Finding Our Way Back
by JaveryJavaJunkie
Summary: Season three ended with Avery leaving Juliette with Cadence, due to Juliette choosing her career and not treating her PPD over her family. Sixteen years later, Cadence has questions about Juliette and wants to meet her mother, believing and hoping to build a relationship with her. Questions are answered, emotions are expressed, and drama ignites in this Javery based future fic.
1. 16

**Hello lovely readers! So this is my new multi-chapter Nashville story, yay! I was so inspired after the finale last week and it resulted into this huge story idea that I hope you all like.**

 **So like I said, this is based off of the season 3 cliff hanger with Avery and Juliette and my interpretation of how things would go down if Avery did leave with Cadence for good. I know that isn't what is going to happen in the show but it's fun to imagine! Other than that, I hope you all like the first chapter.**

 **I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS!**

* * *

Cadence woke up realizing that her alarm didn't go off. It was nine o'clock on a Monday morning, and she could've sworn that she had set her alarm the night before. She sat up in her bed and accidentally kicked her guitar that was resting at the end of her bed.

The teen then remembered she was up late songwriting and didn't set her alarm. "Crap," she mumbled as she stood up and quickly started to get dressed and ready for school.

After the blonde got herself together, she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs. "Dad I overslept, I'm leaving for school now," Cadence announced. The closer she got downstairs, the stronger of a smell came from the kitchen. Waffles and bacon with a hint of coffee, to be exact.

"There's the birthday girl," said Avery as he assembled a plate for his daughter, complete with her favorite breakfast foods.

Cadence smiled as she entered the kitchen. Today was her sixteenth birthday, but Cadence wasn't one to make a big deal of it. As she got older, she saw her birthday to be less and less special with the absence of her mother.

"I figured I'd let you sleep in today," Avery explained. "It already sucks enough that your birthday is on a Monday this year."

Cadence set her backpack on the floor and took a seat at the kitchen table. Avery approached her with two plates, one for him and one for her. "Thanks Dad," she said with a smile as he pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

"So were you up song writing last night?" he asked.

"Maybe," Cadence said with a smirk before cutting into her waffles and taking a bite of them.

Avery chuckled, "Well I I just hoe you got your homework done before you stayed up so late."

"I did Dad, don't worry."

He nodded and started to eat as well, "Sixteen…wow."

Cadence put her fork down, "Oh Dad please don't get sentimental. You do this every year!"

"Come on," Avery laughed at Cadence's plea. "I'm your dad, I can't reminisce at all today?"

"No," said the now sixteen year old. "I'm not allowing you!" she laughed.

"Fine I'll stop," said Avery.

"Thank you," said Cadence. "So…sixteenth birthday present, what is it?"

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise."

"Is it a car?"

"What did I just say about it being a surprise?" Avery laughed. "And no it is not a car."

Cadence sighed, usually she finds out her surprises in advance. Christmases and birthday's she was always on top of what her dad hid from her, but this year she couldn't find anything.

"You'll just have to wait and find out tonight."

"Fine," she said as the father and daughter continued to eat their breakfast.

"Dad?" she then asked after a long moment of silence.

"Yeah?"

What she was about to ask, was something she had asked every year around her birthday since she was old enough to understand why her mother wasn't in her life. She hated asking him because it always ended in an argument.

"Can I please see _her_?"

Avery sighed, knowing the exact _her_ Cadence was referring to, "Cadence we've been through this…"

"I know we have but I'm sixteen now and I think I deserve to get to know her."

"I've told you Cadence, we left your mom because it wasn't safe for you to be around her. She's sick and she didn't want to get better for us."

"What if she is better now? You haven't spoken to her in years!" Cadence said angrily. "I want to get to know her myself instead of…reading magazine articles and things only you have told me."

"The answer is no Cadence, it is what is best for you," Avery said back.

The blonde sighed heavily and tossed her fork on the plate. "I've lost my appetite," said Cadence as she stood up from the table and taking the plate with her.

"Can we please not argue about this on your birthday."

"When can we? Because she is the woman that actually had me sixteen years ago. Bringing her up today is more justified than any other day."

Avery stayed quiet as Cadence tossed the remains of her food in the trash and placed her dish in the sink. "Can you please just take me to school now?"

It was moments like these when Cadence reminded Avery of Juliette, looks aside. His daughter had the same feisty attitude that her mother did, thankfully it was much more manageable than Juliette's. He was just taking Cadence's teen years day by day.

"Yeah let's get you to school."

Once in the car, the father and daughter were silent halfway during the drive until Cadence spoke up. "I hate Ohio."

The random statement made Avery chuckle, "Are you really going to be so negative today?"

"Well it's hard not to think about that I could've been living in Nashville instead of this place where literally nothing happens."

Avery knew Ohio wasn't the best, it was why he left for college in the first place. But when he needed somewhere to go sixteen years ago, he went back home to be near his parents for support. He needed to be surrounded by people that would help him.

Avery pulled up to Cadence's high school and put the car in park. "Listen, I know you hate me and have been mad at me for the past couple of years. But you have to know that I did what I did for you and I will always have your best interest at heart."

Cadence nodded, "But I don't _hate_ you dad. Hate is too strong. I could never hate you."

"Thanks Cade," said Avery with a smile. "Now get in there before there is no point in you even going to class."

"Yeah I better go," she said as she grabbed her backpack and opened the car door to get out. "Bye Dad."

Avery gave her a quick wave before pulling away from the school.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright birthday girl, let's get going!" said Peyton.

"Please stop," said Cadence.

"What?"

Peyton was Cadence's best friend, she was a senior in high school and they met when Peyton got a job working at Avery's guitar store. Cadence worked there as well and the two became close over the past couple of years.

"You know how I feel about today."

Peyton rolled her eyes as she unlocked her car and got into the drivers side. Cadence opened the door to the passenger side and got in as well.

"That doesn't stop me every year for trying to make it better for you," said Peyton over the engine starting. "I forgot to ask, but did you try asking your dad again about coming to _Florida_ with me?"

"The other night I did and he said no," Cadence said sadly. "I swear, at this rate I will never be able to meet my mom."

Cadence had planned on heading to Nashville for a week so that she could meet Juliette. She had told her dad that she would be with Peyton's family in the Florida Keys for spring break. Cadence's plan was to spend as much time with Juliette as possible before she had to head back to Ohio and her dad wouldn't know a thing.

Peyton pulled out of the high school parking lot and drove on the road. "Cadence I love you, you're my best friend. And your dad is a great man, but he is also my boss and I hate the idea of lying to him."

"You know what," said Cadence. "We are going to make this work. He can't keep me away from her forever. I have just enough money saved from working at the store. And if this all works out, you are not going to say a word to him," she said sternly.

Peyton sighed, "Fine. And Cadence?"

The blonde turned to her brunette best friend, "Yeah?"

"I really hope you get to meet her and everything works out."

Cadence smiled, "Thanks, I seriously don't know what I'm going to do without you next year."

"Me either, but you'll manage," said Peyton before turning the volume up on the radio.

 _You're listening to 104.5 Ohio's number one country station. And now here is Juliette Barnes with her celebratory twentieth number one single Cold Hearted._

"This is exactly my point. I can't just keep listening to her on the radio and seeing her on award shows…it's not fair."

Peyton gave her friend a sympathetic look. For years she had been listening to Cadence speak her mind about Juliette and all of the questions she wanted to ask her. It was hard to see Cadence so broken inside.

The rest of the car ride was silent until Peyton pulled up to Cadence's house. "Who's car is in your driveway?" Peyton asked, recognizing Avery's car but not the other.

"That's Molly's car."

Peyton rolled her eyes and so did Cadence, "So is this a family party tonight?"

"Yeah," said Cadence.

"I wish I could be there but my brother is coming home from college tonight and my parents would kill me if I wasn't there."

"I totally get it P, I'll catch you up on all of the details later," said Cadence as she got out of the car.

"Well I hope you have a great birthday, and tell your dad that I said hi," said Peyton.

"I will," Cadence responded.

"And let me know what the big surprise is!" she added before slowly pulling away.

Cadence walked up to the front door and opened it, immediately smelling the aroma of chocolate cake.

"Cadence is that you?" Avery asked aloud.

"Yeah it's me," she said, placing her backpack on the floor. She walked further into the house and entered the kitchen seeing her dad with Molly, his girlfriend for almost a year.

"Hey sweet girl," said Molly who was frosting the cake. She quickly stopped what she was doing to give the teen a warm embrace. "Are you excited for your party tonight?"

Cadence looked over at Avery who gave her a smile. "Very excited," she responded. "I'm going to head upstairs and get changed."

"Better hurry, everyone is going to be here soon," said Avery.

Cadence started to make her way up the stairs, "Don't worry I won't be long."

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Did you like your cake?" Molly asked as she approached Cadence later that night during the small get-together. The sixteen year old was on her phone and quickly put it down.

"Yeah it was great, thanks Molly," said Cadence. Her relationship with Molly wasn't exactly solid. Molly had tried her hardest for the past year to build a relationship with Cadence but the blonde always held back. When it came to her dad, she always made it seem that she was okay with him dating Molly. Cadence saw how happy she made him.

"Well your dad and I have a surprise for you when you open your gifts," said Molly.

"So it's from both of you?"

"Oh," said Molly in a surprised tone. "He didn't tell you that?"

"No..well yes, but he made it seem like it was just from him."

"Well it's from both of us," Molly assured her, putting a gentle hand on Cadence's shoulder. "I just can't wait for you to see it."

The sixteen year old smiled and gave her a nod before she left and went to make small talk with the rest of the Barkley family. Cadence pulled her phone out once more before having it taken away from her hands, "Hey!"

"Now that is no way to talk to your favorite aunt."

Cadence laughed, giving her aunt Savannah a hug, "That's because you're my only aunt."

"Everyone has been talking to you all night and I haven't gotten the chance," said Savannah.

"Yeah well Grandma was talking my ear off before, so now I am all yours."

"Well I have been watching you all night and you haven't been yourself," said Savannah, taking a sip of champagne from the glass that she was holding.

"I'm myself," Cadence stated firmly.

"Hmm," Savannah smirked. "What has my little brother done now?"

Cadence sighed, "He won't let me go to the Florida Keys with my best friend for spring break." She was thinking that this could work in her favor. Savannah always came to Cadence's defense on everything.

"Well I'm definitely going to talk to him about that. He needs to let you live a little," said the older brunette.

"He is way too over protective of me."

"I agree. Let me take care of him, okay?"

Cadence nodded, "Thanks Aunt Savannah."

"Of course kiddo," she said before being interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"I've got it," Sandra announced as she opened the door.

"Hi Sandra," said Scarlett, giving her a hug.

"It's great to see you Scarlett," she replied joyfully.

"Scarlett, Gunnar!" Cadence exclaimed as she made her way to the familiar faces, immediately giving Scarlett a hug. "Dad didn't tell me you guys were coming."

"Well we had a travel day on the tour and we wanted to stop by to wish you a happy sixteenth birthday," said Gunnar, handing her a present.

"Thanks you guys, that's so nice of you," she said, giving him a hug as well.

"Where is your dad anyways?" Scarlett asked, observing the living room and not finding Avery.

"Um, he's here. I'll go…"

"Cadence, are you ready for your surprise?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," she said, heading into the living room again with Scarlett and Gunnar following behind. Everyone had taken a seat and soon Avery entered the room with a Gibson Custom Citation Electric Hollowbody, a guitar that Cadence had been saving up for and something that she really wanted.

"Dad…oh my god, are you serious?"

Avery laughed as he handed the guitar to her, "Yep it's all yours."

Cadence took the guitar and observed it in all of it's glory, "This guitar costs so much money, I told you I was going to save up for it."

"Don't even mention the price," Avery laughed. "I figured since you haven't even taken your driving test yet, not to mention that you're still learning to parallel park; I thought this was a much better gift over a car."

"Well in comparison, it is," said Cadence, holding the guitar in one hand and embracing Avery with the other. "Thank you so much."

"Anything for my baby girl," he said, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "And thank Molly, she contributed to it too."

"Thanks Molly," she said, still standing by her dad's side.

"You're welcome."

"Let me see that gorgeous thing," said Gunnar interjecting. Cadence carefully handed it to him to look at and strum.

Scarlett approached Avery and gave him a hug, "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, thanks for coming," said Avery. "I know how busy y'all are with touring."

"It's no problem. Plus we haven't seen Cadence in a while, so it was a good excuse."

Before Avery could continue his conversation with Scarlett, Molly approached the two friends, "Sorry Scarlett, but I hope you don't mind me pulling Avery aside for a moment."

"No not at all," said Scarlett. "Gunnar is pretty much in love with Cadence's guitar so I'm going to go chat with Savannah."

After Scarlett left to talk with Avery's sister, Molly linked arms with Avery and pulled him aside. "When are we going to make the announcement?"

"I don't know if we should tell my family tonight."

"Everyone is here, well I mean aside from your dad who I wish could be here," said Molly, speaking of Carl Barkley who passed away just a few months prior.

Avery looked away and over at Cadence who was talking with his mom. He was worried about her response, he felt confident in the relationship Cadence and Molly had but with bringing up Juliette recently, he didn't know how Cadence would feel about an engagement.

"I'm just worried about Cadence," Avery whispered. "I don't know if she's ready fo.."

"Honey, she's sixteen now. She can handle her daddy getting engaged."

"Alright," Avery sighed, leaning in to press a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey everyone," Avery then announced, getting his family's undivided attention. "Since everyone is here tonight, aside from Molly's family. We just wanted to take this moment to tell you all that we are engaged."

Gasps, claps, and "congratulations!" filled the room, Sandra immediately going up to her son and new daughter-in-law and congratulating them personally. Gunnar and Scarlett went over to them as well, "This is great man, congrats," said Gunnar, giving Avery a hug. "I'll tell Zoey as soon as I can."

"Thanks man," said Avery.

Savannah looked over at Cadence and saw the disappointment in her face. Her arms were crossed and her head was hung low as she approached her dad. "Congratulations…I'm so happy for both of you," said Cadence, looking up at her dad with tears forming in her eyes.

Avery was about to say something before Cadence started to leave. "Excuse me," she said before she started to cry harder in front of everyone.

"Cadence…" said Avery trying to stop her from going upstairs.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Savannah asked.

"No, I should," Avery insisted. He gave Molly a look before going upstairs to talk to his daughter. He followed Cadence to her bedroom and knocked on the closed door.

"Cadence it's me," said Avery. "Can we please talk about this?"

Suddenly the door opened and revealed Cadence with tear stained cheeks. "How long have you guys been engaged?"

Avery sighed heavily, "About a week."

Cadence turned away, leaving the door open for Avery to come in. "So you guys planned to tell me this on my birthday? Was the guitar just a bribe for me to accept this? Because if it is, you can take it back," said Cadence, taking a seat in front of her bed and leaning her back against it.

"The guitar was not a bribe. I have been planning on getting you that guitar ever since you showed it to me," Avery explained, sitting next to his daughter.

"Okay maybe it wasn't for you…but for her being apart of it? It comes across that way."

"Cadence, I thought you liked Molly. I wouldn't have been okay with this if you two didn't get along."

"I like her, she makes you so happy Dad," said Cadence, tears brimming her eyes once more. "But…"

"But what?" Avery asked, taking his daughter's hand and holding it.

"I don't need a new mom. I already have one. How can I build a new relationship with Molly when I don't even have a relationship with the one I already have?" Cadence said as her breath shook.

"You're right," said Avery. "Sweetheart, you don't know how much I wanted you to have a relationship with your mama. She just wasn't willing to get better for the both of us."

The young blonde sighed and leaned her head on her dad's shoulder. "Do you hate her? Juliette?"

"Well…like you said earlier hate is too strong of a word," said Avery, making Cadence slightly chuckle.

"But no, despite everything I don't hate her. I can't because she gave me you."

Avery turned to his daughter and saw her smiling, "I don't know if I ever told you this but, you have her smile. When you smile that big smile of yours, it reminds me of her."

"That's a good thing I assume?"

Avery put his arm around her, "It is a _very_ good thing."

The father and daughter sat together in the quiet bedroom before Avery spoke up again, "Molly and I…we don't have to get married if you don't approve of it. You're happiness is the most important in this."

"No, it's okay," said Cadence. "I never said I didn't like Molly."

"Okay," said Avery. "I also think you should go with Peyton and her family to Florida."

Cadence sat up and turned to her dad, "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I think you need a little vacation," said Avery.

"You sound like I am a workaholic," Cadence laughed.

"No it's just, you need to get out of Ohio for a bit. I'm not getting rid of you at all, I just want you to have fun."

"Did Aunt Savannah talk to you? Because the other day you were totally opposed to this."

"Maybe," Avery laughed. "But she's right, and is very convincing."

"Thank you so much!" Cadence said as she pulled him in for a hug. Inside, she felt horrible for lying to him. But she knew the outcome of going to Nashville to meet her mom would be for the best.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So tomorrow you have your CMT interview as well as a tour meeting with Rayna," said Emily, going over the schedule she made for Juliette. "Glenn and I will be over here in the morning at eight thirty."

"Great, thanks Em. You can go home," said Juliette as she poured herself a glass of wine. Sixteen years ago, Juliette had screwed everything up due to not treating her postpartum depression. It had taken begging, forgiveness, and patching up relationships to get back to where she is now. She went back to Highway 65, realizing Jeff didn't have her best interests at heart, as well as getting Glenn back as her manager. The only thing that she couldn't fix in the past sixteen years was the fact that Avery left with Cadence.

Emily started to grab her things before turning to face Juliette, "Today is her birthday you know."

"I know when her birthday is," Juliette snapped. "I am her mother."

"I know I just…you've been so busy these past few months with the tour coming up and all."

"I didn't get better and start therapy for nothing Emily," said Juliette, sipping her wine. "She's sixteen."

Emily nodded, seeing that the conversation was going nowhere. "Goodnight Juliette."

Without another word, Emily left the home, leaving Juliette alone with her glass of red wine. She finished it quickly, putting in the glass in the sink before leaving the spacious kitchen and living room and heading down the hallway.

She approached the door that lead into Cadence's old bedroom. The older blonde opened it as she slowly walked into the old nursery. Juliette never had the heart to go through all of the baby items and pack them up. Everything was the same as it was sixteen years ago. Nothing was removed or changed.

After years of doctors appointments, medication, and therapy, Juliette had recovered from her severe postpartum depression. Now that she understood it all, she regretted not getting help sooner and listening to Avery. Years later, she didn't see the point in trying to reach out to Avery and Cadence. Especially when she had received divorce papers in the mail from Avery a couple of years into the separation. She had signed them. The damage had been done and what happened couldn't be fixed in Juliette's eyes.

She took a seat in the chair Avery insisted on putting in the house when he first moved in, the one that had been placed in Cadence's room. Juliette looked up at the framed picture hung on the wall across from her. The one she had thrown the snow globe at. It still had the broken glass from the incident. The memory of that moment made Juliette feel uneasy. She felt a chill go through her body, so many emotions and memories filling her head. Questions about her daughter consuming her thoughts.

Being in the nursery and sitting in the chair resulted in tears falling down Juliette's cheeks. Another birthday she missed. Another year without her daughter.

* * *

 _ **So sad, UGH! I hope you all liked it though, seeing where this story is going. I really enjoyed writing for Cadence and creating her personality as well as writing for the Barkley family, especially Savannah!**_

 _ **Next chapter: Cadence leaves for Nashville and finally meets Juliette! Things may not be as easy as Cadence had hoped for when meeting her mother.**_

 _ **If you liked this first chapter please review and let me know what was good, what wasn't, and all of that fun stuff. I really appreciate it!**_


	2. Guess You Gotta Run Sometimes

**Thank you all so much for the favorites, follows, and reviews on the first chapter! The response I received was great and I'm glad you all like where I'm going with this. There aren't many Javery stories on here so I really want to make this story worth reading.**

 **Here's the next chapter, Juliette and Cadence finally get to meet, yay! You also get to see some familiar faces in this chapter as well.**

 **Enjoy!**

 ***I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS***

* * *

"I want you to keep in touch with me, just an occasional text or two. Calling would even be better."

"Got it."

"No drinking, no boys…"

Cadence rolled her eyes, "Yes I know. I really don't think any of that could happen tough since I'm going to be with Peyton's family most of the time."

"Yeah don't worry Mr. Barkley, my family and I will take good care of her," said Peyton who was standing in the doorway, waiting for Cadence and Avery to say their goodbyes. She arrived at the house early that morning so that Cadence could make her nine o'clock flight to Nashville.

"I know you will Peyton," said Avery.

"We better get going, our flight leaves in a couple of hours," said Cadence, trying to get out the door.

"Are you sure you don't want to take your new Gibson?" Avery asked Cadence, pointing to the black guitar case in her right hand.

"You just gave it to me last week, I would hate for it to get lost somewhere from here to Florida," Cadence explained. "So I'm just bringing my Martin, see if I can get some songwriting in while I'm down there."

"Good idea," said Avery, pulling his daughter in for a hug. "I love you."

Cadence smiled, her face pressing onto his cotton shirt and hugging him back tightly, "I love you too Dad. Don't worry about me too much."

"I'll try," Avery chuckled as he pulled away from his daughter and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have a great time, and send me and Molly pictures.

"I will," said Cadence as she walked towards the front door where Peyton was standing.

"See ya," said Peyton, giving Avery a wave goodbye.

"Bye Peyton," he said as the brunette closed the door.

"Holy shit I can't believe you're doing this," Peyton said quietly once the door was closed.

"Shh!" said Cadence. "Act normal, he's going to watch us drive away."

Peyton helped Cadence with her things before getting into the car. Both girls got into Peyton's car and turned back to see Avery watching them, making sure everything was okay. They gave him one last wave goodbye before Peyton pulled away.

"I feel like shit Cadence," said Peyton as they made their way to the airport. "I'm not going to be able to enjoy my vacation because of you!"

"What did I say to you last week? I'll worry about me."

"If your dad finds out that I helped you get to Nashville without him knowing, there goes my job. I need the money to pay for my car insurance every month. You know what that means? No car insurance, no car, which also means no more rides from me anymore."

"Everything is going to be fine," Cadence assured her.

"What if it isn't?"

"What?"

"Well I mean, what if she didn't change Cadence? What if she didn't get better and her priority is still her career? Maybe she hasn't tried to see you fo…"

"Hey!" Cadence barked. "You don't even know her okay."

Peyton laughed, "And neither do you!"

Cadence then fell silent at her best friend's accusations against her mother. "I'm not trying to be mean to you Cade, and I'm not stopping you from seeing her. I'm just being realistic and preparing you for what could happen. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I won't, okay? She's my mom…she…she wouldn't hurt me like that."

"Alright," Peyton sighed. "Have you planned out what you're going to say to her once you see her?"

"Um..not really. I'm literally just taking this one step at a time. I mean, how do you approach your mom that you haven't seen in sixteen years?"

"I don't know kid, maybe just wing it?"

"Great advice P," Cadence laughed.

"Well you have to tell her about me. Oh! And that she was my first concert when I was eight, okay?"

"Okay I will," Cadence chuckled.

It wasn't long before the girls arrived at the airport and Peyton pulled up to drop Cadence off. The blonde got her belongings out of the car and said goodbye to her best friend.

"If you need anyone to talk to, I'm only a text or phone call or skype chat away," said Peyton as she got out of the drivers side.

"I highly doubt that you will have any time to skype me, when you're down in paradise," said Cadence.

"Oh come on, anything for you," said Peyton, giving her best friend a hug. "Be careful okay?"

Peyton felt Cadence nod against her as the two continued their embrace. "Thanks Peyton, for everything."

"Of course," said the brunette. "Well I'll let you go live the life of country music royalty now."

Cadence laughed as she waved goodbye to her best friend, "Bye."

"Bye," said Peyton as she watched her friend enter the airport until she couldn't see her anymore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Around nine thirty that same morning, Cadence arrived at the front of Juliette's estate. It sat up on a hill, hidden by some trees, but the large white home stood out in the morning daylight.

"Well Miss, this is it," said the taxi driver.

"Great, thank you so much," said Cadence as she handed money to the driver.

"Are you sure this is the place you need to be? You're pretty young to be traveling in this area by yourself."

"Dude, just mind your business okay?"

The driver took the remark and continued assisting Cadence, "Do you need help with your things?"

"Nope, I got it," said Cadence, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. The teen got out of the car and opened the trunk to grab her guitar and suitcase. "Thank you."

"Yep," said the driver before he drove away.

Cadence took a deep breath and observed the closed gate in front of her. "Great, now what? Is there a button to talk to someone like they show in the movies?"

As Cadence was trying to figure out how to get in, she noticed some movement at the top of the hill in the driveway. She looked up to see a man with a disheveled appearance, looking rather pissed off. Cadence watched as the man got into his car and started his engine. Her eyes widened, realizing that the gate would open for him to leave.

Cadence stood closely and anxiously waited for the man to pull out of the driveway and exit the gate. She was careful to not be seen by the man, but wanted to get a good look at him. When he unknowingly passed by Cadence and turned down the street in the opposite direction, she noticed how mad and upset he was. Cadence was so caught up with her own thoughts that she didn't notice the gate starting to close again.

"No, no, no, no!" she said as she quickly got through the gate, nervous that she wasn't going to make it.

"That's a good sign I guess," she said to herself as she hiked up the pathway that led up to her mother's home.

"How did you get in here?" asked a man with a deep voice.

Cadence turned to see a big, muscular man approach her, blocking the girl's way from getting to the house. "Excuse me?"

"You're trespassing on private property," he said, taking Cadence by the arm and escorting her off the property. He was Juliette's new bodyguard.

"No you don't understand!" Cadence pleaded. "And let go of me, I have rights!"

"Not when you're on my client's property," he said. "You fans get crazier and crazier…"

"I am not a fan!" Cadence stated, trying to get the bodyguard to listen to her. "I'm Juliette's daughter!"

"And I'm the President's brother," the man joked as he overpowered Cadence's small frame.

"Look mister bodyguard, make all of the jokes you want but I am not going anywhere!" Cadence exclaimed. "I flew all the way here from Ohio and I am seeing my mom!"

"Like hell you are," said the bodyguard, continuing to stand in front of her, preventing Cadence from moving any further.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Juliette asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Is someone trying to get into my house?"

"I'll go check it out. Lance probably has it under control," Glenn assured her. Emily was just as curious, standing up to follow Glenn and see what was going on outside.

"We have to get going, tour rehearsal starts in an hour and a half," Juliette stated.

"Hey," said Glenn as he approached the scene that was occurring in the driveway. "What the heck is going on?"

"This fan here is claiming to be Juliette's daughter and won't leave until she sees her," said Lance. Glenn got closer to the two, finally being able to see the teen better.

"My name is Cadence," she said. "I'm not a crazy fan!"

"Cadence?"

Cadence looked at Glenn, relieved that someone was finally hearing her out. "See?" she said looking up and over at Lance. "He knows who I am."

"Oh my god," said Glenn, his tone softening as he realized the young blonde that was standing in front of him. "I can't believe it."

"Me either actually," Cadence admitted, giving him a smile of assurance.

"Um…uh," Glenn stumbled, looking back between the house where Juliette was and Cadence who was clearly waiting to be invited inside. "You're Glenn right?" Cadence asked.

"Yeah I am," he said with a smile, happy that Avery had clearly told her about him. "Come inside." Cadence smiled as she grabbed her things and was sure to give Lance a side look that said 'told ya so'.

Emily was waiting in the doorway, curious as to why Glenn was bringing a stranger into Juliette's home. "Emily, this is _Cadence_ ," Glenn whispered, having a hand placed on Cadence's shoulder.

The older brunette took a moment to observe the sixteen year old. "Oh my god," she said as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Everyone is having the same reaction," Cadence said sarcastically, as she, Glenn, and Lance stepped inside of the house. "I hope it's a good thing…"

"No it's great," said Emily tearfully, immediately giving Cadence a hug. "We haven't seen you since you were a baby."

"Can someone please explain to me what is going on?" Juliette demanded as she entered the foyer where everyone was standing. Emily and Cadence let each other go and turned their attention to Juliette.

"Juliette…this is Cadence," said Glenn.

Juliette looked at the girl, not giving it any thought. "Is this some joke you are all trying to play on me?"

"No this isn't a joke," said Cadence, walking closer to her mother. "My name is Cadence Barkley. I was born on April eighth, twenty fifteen and my dad is Avery Barkley. He was your guitar player, songwriting partner, husband…."

"Wha…what are you doing here? Where's Avery?"

"He doesn't know I'm here," Cadence admitted.

Juliette's eyes went wide, "He doesn't know you're here!"

"He wouldn't let me see you!" Cadence said back.

"So you ran away?" Emily asked.

Cadence turned back around to face Glenn, Emily, and Lance, "Kinda…."

Everyone in the room sighed and moaned at Cadence's way to get here, worried about the repercussions that would occur if Avery found out where Cadence really was.

"You guys it's okay," said Cadence. "He doesn't know I'm here! He thinks I'm spending spring break in the Florida Keys with my friend Peyton so it's fine. As long as I head back home to Ohio in a week."

"Ohio?" Glenn asked. "That's where you have been all these years?"

"Yeah, um. That's where we went to," Cadence answered, feeling the awkward position she was in. She turned back in Juliette's direction where she could read the expression on her face, amazed, shocked, confused and at a loss for words. The welcome she was expecting from Juliette wasn't anything like she imagined. Maybe she was still sick. Maybe Peyton and her dad were right.

"If you don't want me here then I get it. Having your daughter show up at your front door unexpectedly isn't what you asked for and I know you're busy. You have a tour coming up and it's fine…I'll just head back home," said Cadence, struggling to hold back her tears as she started to grab her things again to leave. All of the money she saved up for a moment she always dreamed of, gone to waste."It was nice meeting you even if it was for a few minutes."

Glenn and Emily gave Juliette a look, warning her to not let Cadence leave.

"Cadence wait," Juliette immediately said, grabbing her upper arm attempting to stop her. The teen stopped, caught off guard by the sudden touch. "You can stay here."

"Are you sure?"

"Please, I want you to," Juliette assured her, letting go.

"Okay," Cadence agreed. She was desperately wanting for Juliette to just pull her close and hold her in her arms and to tell her how much she loves her. But she knew Juliette wasn't ready yet. It was going to take some time and she only had a week to do so.

"Well that's great!" said Emily. "I can help you get settled in and…"

"We have a tour rehearsal to get to," Juliette reminded her.

"That's okay," said Cadence. "I could just come with you. I would love to see what goes on behind a huge tour anyways. If that's okay with you of course."

"That is perfectly fine," said Juliette. "We just have to get going _right now_."

XXXXXXXXXXX

After arriving at the location where Juliette's tour rehearsal space was, Cadence followed behind Juliette and her team and was listening in on their conversation. "Since Cadence is going to be around for the next week, we have to be cautious of how the public finds out about her being with you," Glenn explained as they walked.

After Avery left with Cadence, there was severe damage control as the public started to realize that there was no mention of Avery or Cadence in the years following Juliette's career. No candids, lack of mentions on social media and in interviews, as if Avery and Cadence didn't exist. Juliette had stated that she and Avery had gotten a divorce and he was awarded custody of Cadence. There was no mention of Juliette's PTSD. It was all played off as a case of miscommunication and disagreement between the husband and wife as time went on.

"Alright, sounds good," said Juliette as they approached the dressing room. She looked at Cadence who was standing between Glenn and Emily.

"I'm sorry about all of this Cadence," said Glenn. "But you have nothing to worry about while you're here."

The blonde looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks."

"Do you want to come in and wait?" Juliette offered as Glenn and Emily filed in.

"Um, I think I'll just explore the place a bit and look around," said Cadence. "Thanks though."

"Of course," said Juliette as she closed the dressing room door.

She turned towards Emily and Glenn, "It isn't just me is it? I'm not dreaming this? That my sixteen year old daughter showed up at my front door this morning and now she's staying here with me for the week."

"Nope, you're not dreaming," said Emily.

"Juliette this is amazing, Cadence is here with you. You have an opportunity to connect with your daughter," said Glenn.

Juliette sat down on one of the couches and rubbed her face with her hands. "Avery doesn't even know she's here. If he finds out that she has been around me…"

"But you've been doing great for thirteen years," said Emily. "It's about time he knows that."

"No, I have given up on him. We haven't spoken in years."

"But that doesn't mean you have to give up on Cadence," said Glenn. "She has come here to get to know you. You need to spend time with her."

"I know but I have the tour coming up and promoting the new single…"

"You need to make time for her Juliette, this is your second chance," said Emily. "Make it right with her."

"She has his eyes," Juliette stated, spilling out her thoughts to Glenn and Emily. "It's hard to look at her without seeing him in her."

Cadence had been wandering around the building and had finally come across the space where the stage was set up. "Wow," she said under her breath as she stepped up and onto the stage. Lighting and screen tests were going on as the crew set up the stage so Juliette could rehearse.

The sixteen year old walked on the stage and immediately went over to the instruments. "You can't be up here," said someone. "Unless you're one of the band members, crew, or Juliette herself and I'm pretty sure you're neither of those."

Cadence turned and looked at the person behind her. It was a guy who appeared to be around her age, tall with sandy blonde hair and had one of the crew shirts on. "Well you look a little young to be a part of the crew," said Cadence.

"My dad got me the job. I really don't do that much around here, I just help where I'm needed when different tours come in here to rehearse. You know, tune guitars and whatnot," he said. "And I'm not that young, I'm eighteen."

"Got it," said Cadence.

"What is your name?" he asked her, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Cadence," she responded as she shook his hand.

"That's different," he admitted. "But very pretty. I'm Drew."

"Thanks," she giggled. "Drew is pretty average though."

Drew laughed, "Well I'm sorry to tell you this Cadence…but you have to get off the stage."

"What if I told you that I am more than allowed to be on here just as much as you are?"

"Okay," he said crossing his arms. "Give me one good reason."

"I'm Juliette's daughter so…I win."

Drew was shocked at the reason Cadence gave him. "Really, well I didn't know Juliette Barnes had a daughter."

"She does and I am her," said Cadence, pointing to herself.

"Interesting," he said. "So were you going to play something?"

"I was thinking about it, why? Too cliche?"

"Cliche?"

Cadence laughed as she picked up one of the acoustic guitars that was held on its stand. She put the strap over her shoulder and let the guitar rest so that she could tune it. "You know, daughter of two musicians who _also_ aspires to be a musician…"

"And you're name literally means the flow of sounds and words so yeah…a little bit of a cliche," said Drew. "But hey, it's probably just meant to be right?"

"Probably," said Cadence as she finished tuning the guitar.

"Can you do that for the rest of them?"

"Very funny, but you're the one that is a part of the crew remember?"

"Alright, but since you already have the guitar tuned and on you. You should sing something."

"Any requests?" Cadence asked.

"How about one of your mom's twenty, number one singles."

"I can do that," Cadence complied, immediately thinking of one of her favorite Juliette Barnes songs. She placed her fingers on the correct frets and started to strum the guitar.

 ** _I've got flowers but there ain't no grave_**

 ** _You're still walkin' 'round but nothing's changed_**

 ** _I've stopped breathin' but I'm still feelin' the pain_**

Cadence looked at Drew off to the side as she sang front and center on stage, not noticing the rest of crew and some of Juliette's band turn their attention to the sixteen year old off stage.

 ** _Everywhere I go, I hear your name_**

 ** _Want to get out, want to get off of this street, out of this place_**

 ** _You're still breathin' but you're not feelin' the pain_**

 ** _Put out the fire, can't kill the flame_**

 ** _I - I - I - I know I'm free but still_**

 ** _My hands are tied_**

 ** _Behind my back beside the Mississippi flood_**

 ** _This love won't give up_**

 ** _No, it don't run dry_**

 ** _Why-y-y_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

"What is everyone doing just standing off the side of the stage?" Juliette asked aloud. Emily and Glenn followed behind her, no one responding to her question as their full attention was on Cadence.

 ** _I'm not twisted, bitter, I'm not mad_**

 ** _I just wish you would get off my mouth_**

 ** _I've been hidin' but you keep findin' my tracks_**

 ** _Why do you keep on comin' back?_**

 ** _I - I - I - I know I'm free but still_**

 ** _My hands are tied_**

 ** _Behind my back beside the Mississippi flood_**

 ** _This love won't give up_**

 ** _No, it don't run dry_**

 ** _Why-y-y_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

Drew looked over off stage and noticed how many people had accumulated to listen to Cadence sing, including Juliette. Emily and Glenn smiled at one another as they went between watching Cadence and Juliette's reaction to her daughter covering her own song.

Juliette was impressed with how she handled the guitar solo acoustically, leading up the bridge and final chorus of the song. Much like Avery, she did it with ease. She was not surprised at how talented her daughter was vocally and instrumentally, in fact, it even made her proud to see her up there. If it was anyone else interrupting her rehearsal time, she would have gone up there and dragged them off the stage herself.

 ** _I - I - I - I know I'm free but still_**

 ** _My hands are tied_**

 ** _Behind my back beside the Mississippi flood_**

 ** _This love won't give up_**

 ** _No, it don't run dry_**

 ** _Why-y-y_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

 ** _It's gone, it's gone, but it ain't dead and gone_**

Cadence finished and immediately removed the guitar and turned to Drew, "There, are you happy?"

"I am, and so are they," he said, pointing over in the direction where everyone had been watching Cadence. The blonde followed the direction to where Drew was pointing and saw everyone as they started to clap and cheer for her. She smiled and took the applause as she set the guitar back down in its stand.

Juliette went up on the stage as Cadence walked in her direction to step off. She stopped once Juliette was in front of her. "I'm sorry for delaying your rehearsal, I was just caught up in it and…"

"No," Juliette interrupted her. "It was great."

Cadence shouldn't help but beam at the comment made by her mother, "Thank you."

"I would even go as far as to say better than myself on the record."

"Now I know you're lying," Cadence giggled, trying to control herself from blushing.

"I'm not." said Juliette. "I just might have to consider that acoustic version for my set."

"Yeah, you should totally do it," said Cadence getting excited. "I mean the way you perform it is already amazing but this would be too."

"I will definitely consider it," Juliette smiled at her. "Now I better start with the rehearsal."

"Yeah of course," said Cadence as she walked past her and stepped off the stage, Drew following behind.

"And you," Juliette said sternly, stopping Drew in his tracks. "I saw you looking at her the way you did."

The band started to make their way up on the stage. "What way Ms. Barnes?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Watch yourself kid and just do your job."

Drew quickly nodded and stepped off the stage. One of the crew members handed Juliette her microphone, "Alright everyone let's get started."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Juliette had sent Emily and Glenn home, assuring both of them that she was fine with Cadence and didn't need their help. She followed to where Cadence's voice was coming from in the house and found her in the room where she kept her awards.

"Yeah I'm having a great time," Cadence said into her phone. "It's amazing down here, so warm." Juliette stepped into the room quietly, making sure not to disturb the teen.

" _That_ _'_ _s great to hear, well I miss you already,_ _"_ _said Avery on the other end._

Cadence looked up and saw Juliette standing by the door, a sense of nervousness took over her. "I miss you too Dad. Listen I have to go, Peyton wants to go walk on the beach. I'll text you tomorrow okay?"

" _Sounds good Cade, have fun. I love you._ _"_

Cadence smiled, feeling horribly about the moment she was currently in. "I will. Love you too Dad, bye."

" _Bye._ _"_

The father and daughter both hung up and Cadence focused her attention on Juliette, "Hey."

"Was that your dad you were talking to on the phone?" Juliette asked, playing dumb.

"Um, yeah. He wanted to know how the flight was and how everything was going in _Florida._ "

Juliette nodded, not wanting to ask any further questions about Avery at the moment. "So I can see you found this room," she said, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Cadence smiled, sliding her phone into her jean pocket. "It's amazing."

The room was filled with several awards and accolades ranging from CMAs, ACMs, CMTs, BMAs, Grammys, and framed records of songs that have gone platinum, double, and triple platinum. To say that Juliette had gotten back on track with her career in the past sixteen years was a complete understatement.

Cadence observed the room in awe. It was also hard not to be intimidated by her mother's success. "Well it was a lot of hard work and dedication, it helps when you love what you do too," said Juliette. "Maybe this will be you one day."

"Hopefully, I would love to have all of this one day too, but college is first," said Cadence who watched as Juliette raise a brow. "Dad insists. Not that he is stopping me from what I love to do. He just wants me to go to college first."

"I can't exactly disagree with him on that," said Juliette. "I would've went to college but when you're born and raised in dirt, college isn't exactly an option."

"Is that why you turned to singing so young, because that's what you were good at?" Cadence asked, thinking back to what she had already known about Juliette and her backstory.

Juliette slowly nodded, she didn't exactly want to talk about her past with her daughter. She couldn't help but feel ashamed of where she came from. "I wanted better for myself. If I had a shot at becoming a singer and making a lot of money so I could get out of Alabama, I was going to do it."

Cadence listened and nodded as she walked around the room, taking small steps. It was quiet for a moment between the mother and daughter before Cadence remembered something she wanted to ask her.

"Who was that guy this morning?"

Juliette was confused as to what guy Cadence was referring to. "The guy that left your house before I came here. He was really pissed off from what I could see," the younger blonde clarified.

"Oh him, that was Sam. I had broken up with him this morning," Juliette said with no emotion expressed.

"How long did you guys date? I mean, he clearly doesn't sound important from how you're talking about him."

"Yeah it was just for a couple of months, nothing special."

Cadence was surprised, she figured he was someone her mom had slept with. By his facial expression, the relationship meant a lot more to him than it did to Juliette. "It's getting late and I'm kind of tired," said Cadence, changing the subject.

"Yeah of course," said Juliette. "You remember how to get to the guest room?"

"I do," said Cadence as she walked past her mother to leave the room. "And Juliette?"

The older blonde turned around to face Cadence, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me stay here and for everything today, it was cool getting to see what you do."

"Yeah of course," Juliette said with a smile. "And you're always welcome here Cadence."

The teen nodded quickly and smiled back, "Goodnight."

"Night," said Juliette as she let out a loud breath once Cadence had left. She looked around the room again and saw it differently compared to other times before. It was a room filled with everything she had chosen over a family.

* * *

 _ **Second chapter down, haha! I hope you all liked it!**_

 _ **Writing for Juliette is so nerve wracking because she has such a special personality and you never know what she is thinking or how she would react to certain things, so hopefully I'm doing her justice.**_

 _ **Next Chapter: Cadence and Juliette continue to figure each other out and learn more about one another. Juliette also introduces Cadence to Rayna, Deacon, and see what Maddie and Daphne are up to. You'll have to read the next chapter and see what goes down!**_


	3. There's A Lot To Talk About

**Hi everyone! Thank you for being patient with this one, I've been so busy! I went to see Taylor Swift two weeks ago and a few days after that I was in Nashville for a week. It hasn't been my first time there and I go way too often (it's the best city !) but this time I stumbled upon the building/set that they use for Highway 65 in the show! It's in downtown Nashville and I posted pictures on my Tumblr so check that out if you would like but omg I FREAKED!**

 **I had an amazing time and I came back home with so much inspiration! Since it's my favorite place, I'm going to try and include locations and places in Nashville throughout this story. Like they say, write what you know! Haha, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

 ****I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS****

* * *

Cadence was awake early the next morning. As much as she wanted to sleep in, it was hard sleeping in a different bed and in a room she wasn't used to. She left the bedroom, headed down the stairs quietly, and into the kitchen.

The blonde started to open the cabinets in search of cereal, but no luck. Cadence then moved to the refrigerator and only found an almost empty bottle of water, butter, ketchup, and coffee creamer. "Does she not eat?" Cadence asked herself as she observed the empty refrigerator. "There's no milk anyways even if I wanted cereal."

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the coffee creamer and set it on the counter. Walking back over to the cabinet, she grabbed the coffee blend she saw when she was looking for cereal. As Cadence prepared the coffee machine, the front door unlocked and opened. She knew it either had to be Glenn, Emily, or Lance so she continued making her coffee, waiting to see who it was.

Emily walked down the hall and heard someone in the kitchen. She entered, seeing it was Cadence who was awake at almost seven thirty. "Oh Cadence, I thought you were…um, your mom."

The blonde smiled, "Nope it's me."

"You're up early," said Emily.

"Yeah I had a hard time sleeping last night."

"Oh I'm sorry," said Emily. "What was wrong?"

"Just being in a different place that's all," said Cadence as she waited for her coffee. "Does Juliette usually never have food in the house?"

Emily took notice of how Cadence called her _Juliette_ instead of _Mom_. Maybe Cadence wasn't ready for such a change. "Sometimes she does, but she's so busy these days that she hardly ever has time to cook."

"Oh," said Cadence.

"I'll have to go grocery shopping and grab some things for while you're here."

"Thanks," said Cadence as she grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and poured some coffee into it. She added sugar and the coffee creamer to it as well before sitting down at the long kitchen island on one of the bar stools. "How long have you worked for Juliette?"

"A long time," Emily said with a smile. "About seventeen years."

"Wow," said Cadence as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, it's never a dull moment working for your mom and it wasn't always easy either. But through it all, Glenn and I, we have stood by her."

Cadence couldn't help her face fall a little. In the end, Glenn and Emily were still with Juliette, even throughout her PTSD. Emily noticed the change in Cadence's expression and grew concern.

"Cadence?" Emily asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she said as she took a sip of her coffee and the room fell silent. Emily took the silence as a chance to tell Cadence something she thought she needed to hear.

"She loves you Cadence. It may not seem like she is ready to fully embrace you right now, but it's going to take some time. And I have a feeling it's the same way with you too."

Emily was right, her mindset changed once she had actually met Juliette. Things were still awkward which was why Cadence wasn't ready to call Juliette "Mom" just yet. Before Cadence could respond, Juliette came down the stairs and saw that Cadence was already awake.

"Oh shit," she said. "I was going to make you breakfast."

Emily and Cadence watched as Juliette opened the refrigerator in search for food. "There's no food in the house J," said Emily.

Juliette was pissed, she wanted to give Cadence a good impression by doing something motherly. "And why is there no food in the house?"

"Because you're busy and you're going on tour in less than a week," Emily explained. "But I will go out and buy some groceries for while Cadence is here."

"How about we just go out for breakfast?" Cadence asked, looking between Juliette and Emily. "Do you know any good places?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three ladies arrived at Pancake Pantry, a little restaurant located in Hillsboro Village. They arrived before the major line that usually forms around eight thirty so they were seated right away. As the three women took their seats at the table, Cadence noticed a few heads turn their way, including a young girl getting excited at the sight of Juliette Barnes.

Emily handed Cadence one of the menus so she could decide what she wanted. "Do you guys come here all the time?"

"I haven't been here in a while but the pancakes are amazing," said Emily before giving Juliette a look to answer Cadence.

"No I have never been here before."

"Well the Swiss Chocolate Chip Pancakes look good," said Cadence.

"Miss Juliette Barnes how are you? I'm a big fan," asked the young waitress as she approached the table.

Juliette gave her a sincere smile, "I'm good, and thank you."

"Well thank you for coming to Pancake Pantry, what can I get for you ladies to drink?" the waitress asked as she pulled out her order pad.

"Coffee," said Juliette.

The waitress turned to Emily next, "Coffee too please."

She wrote it down and then turned to Cadence, "Umm…coffee please."

"Didn't you just have coffee before we left?" Juliette asked.

"Yeah…" said Cadence, unsure of where Juliette was going with this.

"She'll have an orange juice," Juliette told the waitress as she made the correction on the order pad.

"Alrighty, I'll be back with your drinks and to take your orders," said the waitress as she left.

"What's wrong with having more coffee?" said Cadence, irritated by what Juliette just did.

"You're sixteen, you don't need that much of it," said the older blonde.

"Are you kidding? Dad let's me drink it whenever I want to," she explained.

"Well you chose to be with me for the week, not him, right?"

Cadence had nothing to say back, she put her focus back on the menu and avoided looking at Juliette.

After breakfast they headed into downtown Nashville where Juliette had a meeting with Rayna about her upcoming party celebrating her twentieth number one single.

They entered Highway 65 and met up with Glenn who immediately greeted Cadence. "Is Rayna already in there?" Juliette asked.

"Yeah she is, she hasn't been in there for that long," said Glenn as they all proceeded into the conference room.

"Do you want to join in Cadence?" Emily asked.

"That's okay, I'll just wait out here," she said.

"Alright, we shouldn't be long," said Glenn. Juliette just continued down the hall and Emily turned to Glenn, "We had a minor issue at breakfast this morning."

"Already?" Glenn asked as they followed behind Juliette entering the conference room.

Since much of the walls were glass, Cadence could see through and into the conference room where she watched Juliette exchange a hug with Rayna James and had proceeded on with the meeting.

The front door opened and Cadence turned to the opening door and recognized the older man entering the building. She watched as Deacon Claybourne walk into the waiting area. Everyone gave him a friendly wave and greeted him as he made his way around.

"Do you want me to tell Rayna that you're here?" the receptionist at the front desk asked.

"No that's okay. I'll wait 'till she's done with Juliette."

She knew of him, had heard his music, and had seen pictures that Scarlet showed her, as well as from watching old tour videos on YouTube from when he was Juliette's guitarist. To Cadence's understanding, he knew just as much as Juliette, Glenn, and Emily had known, which was little to nothing. The only people that had ever known about Cadence and Avery's whereabouts were Scarlet, Gunnar, and his own family.

Deacon took a seat near Cadence and observed her for a moment, "Are you a new artist?"

The blonde looked over at him, "No um, I'm just waiting for Juliette."

Deacon gave her a look, almost sure he knew who he was talking to, "So you're just…waiting here for Juliette Barnes to finish a meeting?"

Cadence didn't want to get into details with him. She was worried that somehow her dad would find out she was with Juliette through Deacon telling Scarlet. "Yep," she said quickly.

"You are a horrible liar Cadence," he said looking over at her and then chuckling.

Cadence started to laugh as well. "What in the world are you doing here in Nashville? Is your dad here?"

"I'm by myself actually, he knows I'm here though," Cadence lied. "I'm just here for the week, getting to know Juliette."

Deacon's expression fell, remembering all that happened sixteen years ago. Rayna had told him the mess Juliette had made after leaving her for Jeff Fordham and eventually learned about what was really going on with Juliette mentally. After he won his battle with cancer, he helped Juliette overcome her own battle with PTSD.

"Oh I see," he said. "Well this isn't actually the first time we have met."

"It isn't?"

He shook his head and continued on with the story, "Your mom had called me over to help her write a song. It had been a while since I had seen her. I sat my things down and she was sittin' on the couch with you in her arms."

Cadence pictured it in her mind. It made her smile but on the inside it made her feel sad. She wanted so badly to remember something like that since she had no personal memory of Juliette. She only had to go off of stories her dad had told her along with the few pictures he had of them.

"I sat down next to her and I asked to hold you. She handed you to me and said, 'Baby girl, meet your Uncle Deacon'."

"Wow," said Cadence. "Maybe I should be calling you Uncle Deacon then."

Deacon chuckled, "I'm more than okay with that."

"So you and Juliette are close huh?"

"Well we have just gone through a lot together," Deacon explained. "We have a very strong friendship."

As time passed, Juliette's meeting with Rayna had finished up. "Now that all of the business stuff is taken care of, I would love to see Cadence," said Rayna as she started standing up. She turned around and saw Deacon had already been talking to the sixteen year old.

"But it looks like Deacon has already beaten me to the punch."

Juliette looked over to what Rayna was referring to and she couldn't help but let a small smile grow on her face. The two country artists exited the conference room with Glenn and Emily following behind. Deacon and Cadence were interrupted at the sight of Rayna and Juliette approaching them.

"It's about time," said Deacon as he and Cadence stood up. "Cadence and I were about to go and take a walk downtown if you guys didn't finish up soon."

"Well good thing or else I wouldn't have had the chance to introduce myself," said Rayna.

"It's great to meet you Rayna," said Cadence. "I'm a big fan, Maddie and Daphne too. You all are amazing."

"That's so sweet of you to say, thank you," said Rayna. "Your mom told me you're here for the next few days so I hope you're going to be at her twentieth single party."

"Yeah of course!" Cadence said in an excited tone. Why hadn't Juliette mentioned the party to her before. Did she not want her there? Cadence pushed the negative thoughts aside, she didn't want confrontation with Juliette for the rest of the time they had together.

"We better get going you guys. Juliette you have your final costume fitting at twelve," Emily reminded her.

"Well it was great seeing you Cadence," said Rayna as she opened her arms for a quick embrace.

"You too Rayna," she said as she accepted the hug. She pulled away and went back to Deacon to say goodbye.

"It was great talking to you Deacon," said Cadence as she gave him a hug as well.

"You too kiddo," he said with a smile on his face. The two pulled away and Cadence followed Emily and Glenn out the door.

"Rayna you have a call on line two," said the receptionist.

"I'll be right back," she said to Deacon, knowing he had been waiting for her. "Thanks for coming in Juliette."

"Of course," she said. Juliette turned back to Deacon again, "I'm glad you were able to see Cadence."

"She's a great kid Juliette," said Deacon. "She was tellin' me that you two haven't talked that much."

"Yeah well with what happened at breakfast didn't help at all," she said.

"She told me about that," Deacon laughed. "I think you both have a lot to talk about, it might help some of the awkwardness she was talking about."

"I just…" said Juliette. "I don't know how to talk to her."

"Talk about music. She was telling me about the instruments she plays and the songs she writes. She is just like you and Avery when it comes to it."

Juliette nodded, "Thanks Deacon."

"No problem," he said. "Now go get to that costume fitting."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that night, Juliette found Cadence in the guest room she was staying in. She first knocked on the door, "Can I come in?"

Cadence finished writing something down in her notebook and placed her guitar beside her on the bed, "Um, yeah you can."

Juliette entered the room, taking notice that Cadence was in the middle of working on a song. "What's up?" the younger blonde asked.

"I just wanted to see if you were up for talking," said Juliette, sitting on the side of the bed near her daughter.

"Okay, what did you want to talk about? Because there's a lot…"

"There is," said Juliette. "I do want to get to know you Cadence, I really do, and I'm sorry for not showing it at all today." Cadence looked at her mother and listened as she explained herself. "There's so much that I don't know about you and it scares me. I never wanted it to be like this for you, neither did your dad. He did what was best for you, I was too dangerous to be around you."

"But…you got better. Why didn't you try to see me again?"

"I just assumed you were better off without me. No matter how much I try to be happy, something gets in the way. I wouldn't have been a positive influence on you," said Juliette, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm so sorry for not being there for you Cadence."

"But you were," said Cadence.

Juliette gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

Cadence started to smile, "Dad may not have liked the idea of me seeing you again but for as long as I can remember he always played me your music and told me stories. He never kept your identity away from me."

"Really?"

She nodded as she adjusted herself on the bed, "Of course when I was younger I was quite an outspoken child and told everyone in my kindergarten class that my mom was a famous country singer and no one believed me."

The mother and daughter both laughed as Cadence continued, "Dad had to tell me to not share that information anymore but…I always listened to you whenever I was upset or whenever I just wanted to hear your voice. Also because you make great music."

"I hope you're not talking about my early work too," said Juliette with a laugh, quickly wiping away her tears before they fell down her cheeks.

"It's not _that_ bad," Cadence chuckled. "But your stuff later on was amazing, especially when you worked with Dad."

"Yeah we were a pretty good team him and I," said Juliette as she thought about her fantastic music moments with Avery. Writing songs, him helping produce her album, stepping in as her guitarist. The musical chemistry her and Avery had was undeniable. "How is he?"

Cadence slightly bit her lip, "He's good, he has his own guitar store back home, he's also engaged."

"Engaged…wow," said Juliette. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah she's nice, we hang out and stuff like that but we're not close. He's happy with her, that's what matters."

"You're happiness matters too you know," said Juliette.

Cadence nodded and decided to change the subject, "He got me a Gibson Electric Hollowbody for my birthday."

"Well don't you have him wrapped around your finger?" said Juliette. "I still need to get you something."

"You don't have to get me anything," Cadence insisted.

"No I do, especially what I did to you at breakfast," said Juliette making Cadence laugh a little.

"Can you please tell me what that was all about?"

"I don't know," Juliette sighed. "I was just trying too hard to be motherly to you and it failed."

"You don't have to try so hard. I'm sixteen, not six."

"I know, I'm sorry," Juliette apologized. "The last time I saw you, you were a newborn. I'm still getting used to the fact that you're a teenager now. Plus my mama wasn't present so much in my teenage years so I don't know what is right."

That brought up another question that Cadence wanted to ask, her grandmother. She thought that would be something ask Juliette a different day. "Well you don't want to be insanely over protective. I have friends who can't go anywhere because their moms are worried and paranoid about everything. Right now, you're doing great."

"Thank you," said Juliette, giving her a sincere smile. She looked back over to the notebook and guitar, "Are you working on a song?"

"I am," said Cadence.

"Can I hear what you have so far?"

"Right now it's super choppy and I'm having trouble with the bridge and…"

"Let me see," Juliette stopped her as she held out her hand so Cadence could give her the notebook. "I've been known to write some great songs here and there."

The younger blonde giggled as she picked up her guitar again. She adjusted herself once more, closer to Juliette, so she could see the lyrics she had written down as she started to sing softly strum her guitar. Cadence hoped they would be up all night.

* * *

 _ **UGH that last scene was a joy to write!**_

 _ **I apologize for not having Maddie or Daphne in this like I had said they would in the last chapter. I kinda just went with what my mind made up with for this and it just didn't work out. They will be in the next chapter though!**_

 _ **Thank you all so much for reading! Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow if you like what you've read. Everything is noticed and appreciated!**_

 _ **NEXT CHAPTER: Cadence and Drew get to know each other and they start to build a good friendship but Juliette doesn't see it that way. Maddie and Daphne are introduced. Cadence asks about Jolene and Juliette doesn't hold back the truth from her.**_


	4. Lucky To Have You

**Back again with another chapter! Thank you all so much for the reviews/follows/favorites on the last chapter, it meant a lot!**

 **Two of the reviews I received were super helpful! One reader pointed out that I was saying Juliette had PTSD not PPD. It is beyond my understanding why I kept saying she had PTSD when I knew it was PPD...LOL! So a HUGE thank you to that reader, it will be PPD from now on. The other review was from an international reader complimenting me on my writing style, saying it was easy to read. I've been writing on here for a while and have never received such a nice compliment. THANK YOU!**

 **Aside from that, omg season 4 is officially in production and the episode titles are already killing me! September seems so far away from now, ugh! I can't wait for new episodes!**

 **Enough of my rambling of pointless information...here's the new chapter! Enjoy!**

 ****I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS****

* * *

The next day, Cadence woke up and immediately looked at her phone. It was almost eleven and saw that she had missed a few texts from her dad was well as a FaceTime call.

"Shit," she said to herself as she threw the covers off of her, immediately going to her suitcase and opening it. This was something she had planned in advance just in case her dad wanted to FaceTime. Cadence pulled out her bathing suit, quickly changing out of her pajamas and into the temporary outfit. She grabbed her phone, a hair tie, and a pair of sunglasses before leaving the room and heading into the bathroom across the hall.

Cadence used the hair tie to throw her wavy blonde hair up in a messy bun, putting the sunglasses on her head for the final touch. She needed to be convincing. Cadence sat on the edge of the tub as she went into her phone so she could call her dad back.

She took a deep breath as she opened FaceTime and pressed on his contact. Holding the phone up slightly, the phone rang just three times before Avery answered.

"Hey, there's my girl," said Avery with a smile, so happy to see his daughter even if it was just through a phone screen.

"Hey Dad," she said smiling back. "Sorry I didn't answer, we were out for breakfast and I left my phone back here at the hotel."

"That's okay, I just wanted to see what you and Peyton were up to."

"Oh yeah we're having fun, we've just been going to the beach lately. I know her parents have something planned for tomorrow but I'm not sure what it is."

"That sounds like fun, I bet it's beautiful down there," he added.

"It is, I'll send you some pictures later," she said, making a mental note to text Peyton later and ask her to send some pictures.

"I'd love that," said Avery. "Have you gotten any song writing done?"

Cadence wanted so badly to tell him that she was up late last night finishing her song with Juliette. It turned out to be one of the best she ever had written, Juliette's assistance was exactly what Cadence needed.

"I actually finished the one song I had been working on."

"Really? Well you'll have to play it for me when you get back."

"I will," Cadence nodded. "How's Molly?"

"She's good, we decided to have the wedding in September," he told her.

"That's fast," said Cadence.

"Yeah, she doesn't want to wait too long," Avery explained. "We're going to start planning it soon."

"I think you mean _Molly_ is going to start planning it soon."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

Cadence chuckled, "Come on Dad, Molly tends to be controlling and wants things done her way. It will start out as you two planning it, but it will basically be her in the end."

"Yeah well, we'll see about that," Avery laughed. "I'll let you go have fun. Just text me later and tell Peyton that I said hi."

"Thanks Dad, I will," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too, bye," said Avery.

"Bye," said Cadence as she waved goodbye and hung up. Once finished, she let out a huge sigh of relief before stepping out of the bathroom and back into the guest room.

She changed back into her pajamas temporarily and headed downstairs and into the kitchen where she found Juliette focused on something she was cooking on the stove. "So you do cook," said Cadence.

Juliette turned around to face Cadence, "Ha ha very funny." She took a better look at Cadence, noticing something, "What's with the sunglasses?"

Cadence's eyes went wide, realizing she still had the sunglasses on the top of her head. "Oh yeah, I just had a FaceTime call with Dad. I had to look as if I was heading out for the beach. I had put on a bathing suit and everything," she explained as she removed the sunglasses and set them down on the counter.

The younger blonde walked closer to Juliette and saw that she was cooking bacon and had already finished making blueberry waffles. "You didn't have to make breakfast," Cadence insisted. She smiled though, appreciating the effort Juliette was showing. It didn't go unnoticed by the teen. "It's almost lunch anyways plus I told Emily to just get cereal or something simple for when I'm here."

"Yeah she told me that, but I wanted to do this for you," said the older blonde. "I slept in too and I was still in the mood for breakfast. All you need to say is thank you."

Cadence eyed the small bowl of strawberries on the other end of the counter. She took one without hesitation and bit into it, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"So what time is your rehearsal today?"

"Not until three so we have time," said Juliette.

"Cool," said Cadence as she took her hair out of the messy, high bun and letting it flow down past her shoulders.

"Do you have your license yet?" Juliette asked, trying to keep the conversation going. She was curious since Cadence was sixteen after all.

The younger blonde chuckled, "No not yet…I want to as soon as possible but I am the worst at parallel parking."

"Really?"

Cadence nodded, "I took my diving lessons and I always ended up hitting the cones."

Juliette couldn't help but laugh as Cadence continued on, "Dad has tried to help but I can just never get it. My driving school was nice enough to let me pass and just told me to work on it but at this rate I won't be getting my license."

"Maybe I could help you," said Juliette, turning the bacon slices over. "I'm pretty good at parallel parking."

"Well if you have time at all then yeah!" Cadence said excitedly. "If you can get me to parallel park like a pro then I will owe you."

"Sounds like a plan," said Juliette.

Cadence smiled as she leaned back against the side of the counter, "And thanks for helping me finish my song. I know I thanked you a million times last night but I was stuck on it for the longest time."

"Of course, I hadn't written with anyone in a while anyways," said Juliette with a smile. "But you already had a majority of it done and what you wrote was amazing. Usually sixteen year old aspiring artists don't focus on the emotional components of a song but I was surprised with you."

"Well singing and writing songs about going to the mall and hanging out with friends really isn't my thing," Cadence joked.

"I couldn't agree with you more," Juliette agreed. Last night, she was able to really see how talented Cadence was musically. She had such a beautiful and powerful voice, incredible songwriting abilities, and was told that she plays several instruments. Juliette knew Avery had to do with most of it, but music was in Cadence's blood. It was inevitable that she would be so talented. It made Juliette incredibly proud. She turned the stove off and started removing the bacon from the pan, onto a plate. "Can I also say something?"

"Yeah," said Cadence.

"After you go back to your dad, I want you to tell him that you were really with me."

"Wait what? He would give me the biggest punishment of all time, plus he would probably never let me see you again!" Cadence was confused as to why Juliette would want her to do this. There would be no problems if she never said anything to her dad about staying with Juliette.

"Sweetie you can't lie to him about this for so long."

"You think I want to lie to him about this? I wouldn't have to if you both…"

Cadence stopped herself before she said anything more. The last thing she wanted was an argument with Juliette. "Just…never mind."

Juliette gave her a look, she had an idea of what Cadence was going to say but she decided to leave that up to her own imagination. She refrained back from saying anything more as she walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out two plates, glasses, and silverware.

"We can talk about it another day," Juliette said unsurely. "Breakfast is ready."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure you don't need to be doing anything right now?"

Drew entered one of the waiting rooms at the Soundcheck rehearsal space with two acoustic guitars in hand. "Yeah," he said. "I'm good to be here until your mom is done rehearsing."

"Thanks," said Cadence. "So far things have been good with Juliette, really good actually. It's just nice to hang out someone around my age."

Drew handed the one guitar to Cadence and kept the other for himself to use, "That's good."

Cadence started to tune the guitar but then Drew stopped her, "Already took care of it."

"Well you're good for something around here aren't you?"

"Hey!" said Drew, making Cadence laugh. "That wasn't cool."

"Alright fine, I'm sorry," she said as she started to stop laughing. Cadence played around with the guitar, strumming and playing different chords but Drew interrupted her.

"How come you call Juliette by her name instead of calling her Mom?"

Cadence didn't exactly want to go into detail about the past with Drew. They just became friends and she was nervous about him saying anything. "My parents divorced when I was really young and I lived with my dad in Ohio so I never got to see Juliette a lot," said Cadence. "She was always busy touring and all. So calling her 'mom' still doesn't feel right to me yet."

That last part was true. Cadence wanted to call her "Mom" but she didn't feel ready quite yet.

"Well that really sucks," said Drew. "Have you two never been close?"

"Can we please just sing something?" Cadence said, desperately wanting to change the subject. She looked at him, her eyes pleading him to stop talking.

"Yeah, yeah, of course…"

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"No I'm sorry," insisted Drew. "I'm the one who couldn't shut up."

"It's alright, really it is. How about you start something and I'll join in."

Drew smiled, "Alright." He started strumming and singing, not wanting to upset Cadence anymore than he already did.

Out in the rehearsal space, Juliette called for a fifteen minute break as she stepped off of the stage. She was handed a cold bottle of water and was praised by both Emily and Glenn. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Maddie and Daphne and immediately went over to them, "How are you guys?" Juliette as she pulled the two women in for a hug, far from being Rayna's little girls anymore.

"We're great!" said Daphne. "You sounded fantastic up there."

"It's great to see you Juliette," said Maddie as she pulled away from her long time friend.

"Thank you and you too," she said. "Your mom told me you guys are starting your new tour."

"Yeah we're so excited to get back out there," said Daphne.

"So my dad told me that Cadence is with you," Maddie brought up. "How is everything going?"

Juliette took a deep breath, "Everything has been going really well actually."

"Is she here?" Daphne asked.

"I know she's around here somewhere," said Juliette. She turned back to Emily and Glenn, "I'll be back."

Back in the room that Cadence and Drew were in, they were in the middle of covering I Run To You by Lady Antebellum and were making quite the duo.

 _ **This world keeps spinning faster**_

 _ **Into a new disaster so I run to you**_

 _ **I run to you baby**_

 _ **When it all starts coming undone**_

 _ **Baby you're the only one I run to**_

 _ **I run to you, whoa oh, oh I run to you**_

Maddie, Daphne, and Juliette found the pair as they were finishing the song, Maddie gave Juliette a look, inferring that both Cadence and Drew looked more than just friends. Juliette gave her a look back, one that had slight concern.

 _ **This world keeps spinning faster**_

 _ **Into a new disaster so I run to you**_

 _ **I run to you baby**_

 _ **And when it all starts coming undone**_

 _ **Baby you're the only one I run to**_

 _ **I run to you, I run to you yeah, whoa whoa, oh I run to you, I run to you girl**_

The three women standing in the doorway were impressed with the note Cadence had hit. Drew and Cadence finished the song and turned to notice that a small audience had formed.

"Oh shit did you finish already?" Drew asked becoming frantic at the sight of Juliette. He didn't want to get in trouble yet again.

"No we just took a fifteen minute break," said Juliette. "But we are doing some set changes so I suggest you get back out there."

The eighteen year old nodded as he stood up with the guitar in hand. Cadence handed him the one she had been using so Drew could put it back. "I'll text you later," he said.

Cadence gave him a quick nod and let him leave, watching as Juliette stared him down. She rolled her eyes, "Whats your problem with Drew?"

"I don't like him," Juliette said simply.

The younger blonde stood up and walked closer to the three women. Maddie and Daphne watched as the mother and daughter interacted. "I just don't like him," Juliette said again.

"We're just friends," said Cadence. "I need someone to hang around with while you rehearse."

"Alright well I came to find you because Maddie and Daphne wanted to meet you," Juliette explained. "I've known them for…"

"Let's just say a long time," said Maddie.

Cadence smiled, "I love you guys, your music is amazing. I couldn't get enough of your last album."

"Thank you," said Daphne. "It's so great to finally meet you."

"Juliette," Emily interrupted. "They need you back on the stage. The light techs want to go over the lighting for the encore again."

"Again?" Juliette asked in an annoyed tone. "We fixed that weeks ago!"

"I know, something is wrong and they want your approval before they correct it."

Juliette turned back to Maddie, Daphne, and Cadence. "Go do what you need to do," said Maddie. "We'll keep Cadence company for a bit."

"Thanks," said Juliette before leaving with Emily.

"So how are you liking Nashville so far?" Maddie asked.

"Well I haven't been able to see that much of it. It's really been just coming here for tour rehearsals."

"I'm sure your mom will take a day to show you around and do what you want to do," Daphne assured her.

"Yeah hopefully," said Cadence.

"Can I see your phone for a second?" Maddie asked the teen. Cadence pulled her phone out of her back jean pocket, unlocking it, and handing it to Maddie.

"Just in case your mom is too busy with tour stuff to show you around, we'll be glad to," Maddie explained as she put her's and Daphne's number into Cadence's contacts. "And if you need anything at all for any reason, don't be afraid to text or call one of us."

Daphne nodded as Maddie handed the phone back to Cadence. "Thank you, this is really great but why are you doing this?"

Maddie smiled at her, "When I was about your age, a lot was going on in my life and your mom did the exact same thing. She was there for me when I needed someone to go to and talk to."

"We're not saying not to go to her first or anything," Daphne clarified with a soft chuckle. "Just think of it as two more people looking out for you."

Cadence gave them both a sincere smile, thinking how nice it was for them to do this for her. "Thanks you guys," said Cadence.

"Of course," said Maddie. "We better get going too, our rehearsal starts soon."

"It was great to finally meet you Cadence," said Daphne, pulling her in for a hug.

"You too," she said, giving Daphne a tight squeeze before switching over to Maddie. After exchanging hugs and saying goodbye to one another, Cadence went back to Juliette's rehearsal.

"There she is," said Glenn when he spotted Cadence entering the rehearsal space.

"Are Glenn and I not cool enough to be around anymore?" Emily asked .

"No! I never said that," Cadence said with a laugh. "But hey, do you think Juliette has any time to not do anything tour related from now until I have to leave?"

Glenn and Emily looked at each other, knowing Juliette had a full schedule from now until the tour. "As far as we know she has a pretty packed schedule. She has radio and tv interviews to do some last minute tour promotion, a couple of meetings…I'm sorry kiddo but it would be hard for her to have free time," Glenn said sadly.

"And Cadence we want you to spend time with her, we really do, and if we had known you were coming we would have made sure she had time," Emily explained.

Cadence sighed and nodded, "No I get it, I'm the one who came here unexpectedly. It's fine."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Cadence sat outside by Juliette's fire pit and was on her phone. Peyton had sent Cadence some photos she had taken of the beach for her to send to her dad. The pictures were perfect and very convincing. After sending them to her dad, Cadence felt her phone vibrate, alerting her that she received a text.

" _Wow, it looks amazing down there!"_

Cadence smiled as she replied back, _"It is! It's making me not want to come back home."_ She sent the message and stayed on her phone until he replied back.

" _I don't blame you, but I think I'd miss you too much."_

Before Cadence replied back, the door opened. She turned to her right and saw that it was Juliette coming outside to join her. Cadence put her phone down beside her, "Hey."

"Hey," said Juliette walking towards her. "I thought you could use some company out here."

She sat next to Cadence on the cushioned bench. "Thanks," said the younger blonde, getting a better look at her mother as the fire illuminated her face through the darkness. "So who were you on the phone with in there?"

Juliette turned her body to face Cadence more, her arm resting atop the bench. "Well Glenn told me how you asked if I had any free time before you had to leave."

"He did?"

"Well I could tell something was bothering him that he didn't want to tell me about so I made him," said Juliette, making Cadence let out a soft laugh. "But I was on the phone clearing up my schedule for tomorrow."

Cadence looked at her confused, "But don't you have a bunch of promotion for the tour?"

"I did but I realized that going to radio stations and doing interviews all day wasn't as important or fun as spending that time with my daughter."

"Really?" Cadence asked, fighting back the smile that was quickly growing on her face.

Juliette nodded, "Tomorrow we are doing whatever you want. But there are a couple of things I have planned too…" she was stopped by an abrupt hug from Cadence. Juliette took in the special moment, holding Cadence close to her. Cadence didn't need to thank her, the warm embrace was more than enough.

Without thought, Cadence had reached out and hugged her mother. It had been the first real contact the two have had. It felt right for her and at the same time, hating that it had taken this long. Cadence took in her smell, something she had always tried to imagine but never could. She memorized the moment for all it was before pulling away.

"If you wanted to spend more time together, why didn't you just ask me?" Juliette questioned.

"I just…I didn't know it was an option. I didn't want to be rude."

"Well it's not," said Juliette. "You are the only person I would ever cancel for. I told you that you can come to me and ask or tell me anything."

"I know," Cadence said looking down, fidgeting with the end of her shirt. "I guess I'm just not used to going to you for things just yet."

"I understand," Juliette said sadly.

"It's not that I don't want to go to you, I do," Cadence explained further. "Maddie actually told me how you helped her a lot when she was my age. How you were there for her, it made me realize how lucky I am to have you."

Juliette smiled at her daughter, feeling just as lucky to have Cadence. "When I was pregnant with you I was so worried that I wouldn't do right by you. I didn't want to be like my mama, that was my biggest fear. I wanted it to be different for us," said Juliette as she leaned closer to Cadence and pushed a section of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear. "But life had other plans."

Cadence could see how hard Juliette was trying and working on their relationship and it had meant the world to her. There was a moment of silence between the mother and daughter before Cadence spoke up, "Was she really that bad…my grandmother?"

"It was," Juliette nodded. "But she had her moments."

"Can you tell me about her? Dad never wanted to talk about it when I asked. I think he always thought of it as your story to tell."

Juliette took a deep breath and nodded. Talking about her mother to Cadence was a something she hadn't been looking forward to. Juliette didn't want Cadence to be ashamed of where she came from and who her family was.

"Well what do you know already?" Juliette asked her.

"From little of what Dad has told me, I know she had a drug problem."

"She did," said Juliette, finding the subject more difficult to talk about. "When I was a little girl I remember never having any money because she spent the money we did have on drugs. She was always with different men and had put me second to whatever she was doing."

Cadence felt horrible as Juliette went on talking about her past. She couldn't imagine actually living it. "When she wasn't using or with multiple men, things weren't too bad," said Juliette. "It wasn't until around the time she passed when she did get better."

"How was that?" Cadence asked. Juliette went on to further explain her mother's recovery process and how Dante got involved between her and her mother, causing Jolene to risk her own life to protect Juliette. It was something Cadence couldn't believe.

"I'm so sorry," said Cadence, seeing Juliette start to wipe away a few tears.

"It's okay," said Juliette. "That time she was around and clean made me realize how much she did love me and how proud she was of how successful I became. It wasn't expressed enough before then and it meant a lot to me."

The mother and daughter leaned back on the bench. The younger blonde then slowly got closer to Juliette and rested her head on her shoulder. She took Juliette's hand and held it tight. After telling her something so deep and personal, Cadence wanted to give Juliette some reassurance.

"I wish I was able to get to know her," said Cadence.

"She would have loved you Cadence," said Juliette, smiling at the thought of her mom being around to know her daughter. She was proud of herself for being able to talk about her mom the way she had with Cadence. It was relieving and couldn't thank the sixteen year old enough for it.

* * *

 _ **I hope you all liked it! I'm sorry for that crap ending though. That whole scene was kinda hard for me to work with but it was so important! Plus Avery and Juliette have had some of their best moments by that fire pit at Juliette's place.**_

 _ **I have another question for you all, do you want Maddie and Daphne to be married...etc. They wouldn't be the main focus of this story of course but it's just something to consider. What would you guys like to see? Please let me know in the reviews!**_ _ **I read them all and I appreciate every single one of them.**_

 _ **NEXT CHAPTER: Juliette and Cadence spend the day together and become even closer! Lots of sweet, funny, and fluff filled moments :D**_


	5. Gonna Be Hard To Let You Go

**Long time no update y'all! I've been so busy with work and college starting up again also trying to watch and finish Friday Night Lights hasn't helped either haha. But I haven't forgotten about this story in the least!**

 **Here's the next chapter for you all and I hope you like it!**

 ****I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS****

* * *

"Cadence let's go!" Juliette shouted into the house as she stepped out the front door.

"I'm coming!" the teen shouted back. Juliette checked the time on her phone, it was amazing to her that Cadence could take longer than her to get ready.

A minute or so later, Cadence came down the stairs and went to the door where Juliette was standing. "Sorry," said Cadence.

"What took you so long?" Juliette asked curiously.

"I couldn't get my hair to look right," the younger blonde said discouragingly about her messy fishtail side braid. The mother and daughter stepped out of the house together as Juliette locked the door. "The first time I did it I pulled too much out and it looked horrible."

They went over to Juliette's car that Lance pulled up to the front of the house. "All week you have been taking longer than I have to get ready," said Juliette as she walked around the car to get to the drivers side.

Cadence chucked, opening the passenger door and sitting down. "And what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," said Juliette as she started the engine. "I'm all for taking time to make sure you look good, but not when _I_ have things planned to do."

"Maybe it's something I just take after from you," Cadence said as she pulled the seatbelt over her body and locked it. Juliette looked at Cadence and smiled, "Probably. And that is a cute romper by the way."

The sixteen year old looked down at her teal colored romper and pulled the shorts down just slightly, "Thank you."

"Now we can finally get going," said Juliette as Cadence watched her reach up to press a button. Soon the top automatically went down and Cadence looked over at Juliette with the biggest smile on her face, "I have never been in a convertible before!"

"Well now you have," said Juliette as she put the car in drive. The wind started to blow as Juliette drove down the driveway and up to the gate. "What are we doing first?" Cadence asked, remembering Juliette had a few things planned for the day.

"First I'm helping you with something," said Juliette as the gate opened and she drove onto the main road.

"That's all you're going to tell me?" Cadence asked in a confused tone. "Is that the first clue or something?"

"Yep," Juliette quickly said, making Cadence roll her eyes playfully. It only took a couple of minutes before they arrived at their destination. Juliette slowed down and pulled into the parking lot of an old abandoned church.

"This is the first surprise?" Cadence asked, looking over at her mother with the _you have got to be kidding me_ look.

Juliette nodded as she pulled over by the curb against the perimeter of the church parking lot. She put the car in park and got out of the car. Cadence unbuckled her seatbelt and turned her body as she watched Juliette go to the trunk of the car. For a second she really started to think that Juliette was crazy until she pulled out two bright orange traffic cones. The teen knew exactly what they were going to do.

"Oh no," said Cadence. "We are not doing this now."

Juliette closed the trunk and started to place the cones in their approximate positions, behind and in front of the car. "Yes we are, when you get back home you are passing that drivers test and you are going to nail parallel parking."

"But today?" Cadence whined. She didn't want to have to worry about this on such a special day and she especially didn't want to fail and know yet again that she couldn't parallel park.

"What happened to you telling me that you would owe me everything if I got you to parallel park?" Juliette asked as she adjusted the cones so that there was a little more extra room for Cadence to park.

Cadence slumped back down in the passenger seat and let out a sigh. "Get in the drivers seat," Juliette ordered.

Cadence got out of the passenger side and walked over to get in the drivers seat. Juliette got into the passenger side and shut the door. "But this is you car, your _really nice_ car…I could-."

"Cadence…we're working with cones here, not other cars," Juliette assured her.

"Right," said Cadence, quickly regretting the stupid excuse. "Where did you get the cones anyways?"

"I had Emily find them for me," said Juliette.

Cadence let out a deep breath as she put her hands on the steering wheel. "Just relax," Juliette assured her. "Listen, my mama taught me in this old beat-up car that I was terrified of driving because I thought it was going to fall apart when I pushed on the gas pedal." Cadence laughed softly as she looked over at her mother and listened to what she had to say. "We practiced in an old church parking lot kinda like this one. We didn't have cones so we used old metal barrels that were heavy as hell which we found somewhere in our trailer park," said Juliette. "Do you think I was great at it at first?"

"Um, yeah? You're you, you are great at everything you do."

"And you're my daughter, who is just as great, even better…if you put your mind to it," said Juliette, earning a smile from the sixteen year old. "Just take your time."

Cadence let out a sigh, "Alright." She reached to her left and pulled the seatbelt across her body and Juliette did the same. Juliette knew she had missed a lot of Cadence's milestones and while this certainly wasn't the biggest, she was happy to be a part of something now.

The teen slowly pulled out of the spot and turned around to attempt parallel parking. "I know this part," said Cadence as she pulled past the cone just slightly so that the back right of the car was next to the cone.

"Good," said Juliette. "Now put it in reverse and turn the wheel twice to the right. And check your mirrors."

Cadence put the car in reverse and started to slowly turn right as she checked her mirrors and looked behind. "When the front right of the car matches up with the cone, start to turn left," Juliette instructed as Cadence nodded. As she was still in reverse, Cadence noticed she backed up too much.

"Ugh," the younger blonde grunted.

"Just put it in drive and pull back up a bit," said Juliette. "You're doing great Cadence."

The blonde proceeded and pulled back up, then began to turn left. While watching her mirrors, she started to stop. "Good, stop," said Juliette. "Now turn right again…" She watched as Cadence pulled in more towards the curb and finished. Juliette looked out her side of the window and made sure that they were at a good distance from the curb.

Cadence put the car in park and was amazed, "Oh my god, I did it! I didn't hit the cones or anything!" She started jumping up and down in her seat, she leaned over to Juliette and the two of them exchanged an embrace, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Juliette said with a smile as they both pulled away. "I'm so proud of you."

"I owe you, I don't know what it is but I just owe you something," said Cadence.

"Cadence you don't owe me anything, I'm the one that owes _you._ "

The sixteen year old nodded and accepted what Juliette said and was referring to. While she hated how much Juliette put herself down for what she did in the past, she couldn't help but feel that she was right. But there was no way that Juliette could make up for all that she missed. Cadence only knew that Juliette could be there for what was in the future.

"Can we do it a couple more times?" Cadence asked.

"Yeah, the more practice the better."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next stop Juliette planned was The Mall at Green Hills where she wanted to buy Cadence a dress to wear to her party. Upon entering the mall, Cadence started to notice how upscale it was, "What are we doing here?"

"We are here to get you a dress for my twentieth single party," said Juliette.

"Really?" the teen asked to be sure. As much as she loved clothes and shopping, Cadence was never one to splurge on high end brands like the ones she was seeing. Lilly Pulitzer, Tory Burch, and Burberry were some of the few that got her attention as they walked around the mall.

"Any dress you want, my treat," said Juliette.

They walked past the Kate Spade store and Cadence stopped in front of the display window, "Can we look in here?"

"Go ahead," said Juliette as she followed behind her daughter. Cadence went right to one of the few racks displaying some of the dresses the store carried. Juliette started looking through the rack as well. "How many people are going to be at the party?" Cadence asked.

"Well not including press and photographers, a couple hundred or so."

"I guess I won't be seeing you at all that night huh?" Cadence asked, still looking through the dresses.

"I will be very busy, doing interviews and talking to different people but that doesn't mean you can't be by my side for the night."

"Wouldn't that be awkward though? You would have to introduce me and I know people will be wondering things. Maybe it would be best if I kept my distance."

Juliette wasn't sure what to say, she knew Cadence was right. Neither of them wanted to be away from each other, but they both knew it was what was best.

"What about this one?" Cadence asked, pulling out a dress from the rack and showing it to Juliette. It was a white strapless flare dress and Juliette was quick to shake her head.

"No, not that," she said as she went back to looking at another rack of dresses. Cadence put the dress back and went to join Juliette. "Here, it will bring out your eyes," said the older blonde as she pulled out a dark, royal blue dress. It had soft floral imprints along with short sleeves that would hang off of the shoulders.

"It's a gorgeous dress," said Cadence, but then her eyes suddenly widened at the sight of the price. "Juliette this is almost five hundred dollars."

"Go try it on," said Juliette.

"But…"

"Miss. Barnes, would I be able to help you with anything today?" asked one of the sales associates approaching the mother and daughter.

"Yes, she would like to try this dress on," said Juliette.

"Of course, I'll take you to one of our fitting rooms."

Cadence gave Juliette a reluctant look as they followed the sales associate to the fitting room. Once Cadence got a fitting room, Juliette waited outside so Cadence can try on the dress. "Just because I'm trying this on doesn't mean you're buying it for me. I won't let you?"

"What is wrong with me trying to buy you something nice? Plus you need it for the party. We also need to get you some shoes too. We can get your nails done too if you want, I wouldn't mind getting a manicure myself…"

Cadence opened the fitting room curtain and showed the dress to Juliette. She let out a breath and pressed against the beautiful blue dress. It went down to right above her knees and the sleeves rested off of her shoulders nicely. "Okay…I love it," said the young blonde. "And you're right, the blue does bring out my eyes."

Juliette knew she was right, it was easy to tell that blue was her color. "It looks amazing on you Cadence."

"I want it, but I don't want you putting out five hundred dollars. It's too much."

"Cadence please sweetie let me buy you the dress. I want to. Don't worry about the price of it okay?"

"Fine," she sighed.

"So have we made a decision?" asked the sales lady who was checking up on them.

"Yes, we'll take it," said Juliette.

When the mother and daughter eventually left the mall with a few bags in hand, they were caught off guard with the sudden camera men approaching them. There weren't many but there were enough to potentially cause harm to both Juliette and Cadence.

This was something Cadence had never experienced before. She never had cameras in her face, had been blinded by flashes, or asked six personal questions at once. Both herself and Juliette continued making their way to the car. "Just stand by close to me and don't answer them," said Juliette, putting a hand on Cadence's back to keep her moving quickly.

The paparazzi kept asking questions as they walked.

" _Juliette who is this with you?_ _"_

" _Is that your daughter?_ _"_

" _Why haven_ _'_ _t we seen her in so long?_ _"_

" _Is this going to impact your tour schedule?_ _"_

Cadence started to become concerned when the paparazzi wouldn't leave. Especially one in particular that started to get in her face. He got closer and closer, "Please stop," Cadence mumbled as she shielded her face with her free hand.

Juliette took notice and reacted quickly, "Hey! Get away from her," she said sternly. "You're getting your pictures. Isn't that enough? You don't need to get in her face." He backed off immediately and so did the rest of them as Juliette and Cadence got to the car. They got in fast and took off so that they could get away. Once on the road, Juliette called Glenn.

" _Juliette?_ _"_

"Glenn, paparazzi were waiting outside of the mall for Cadence and I. This is Nashville, not Los Angeles!" she barked.

" _I told you you should_ _'_ _ve had Lance go with you._ _"_

"Yes I know but I wanted as much of a normal experience for Cadence as possible."

Cadence looked over at Juliette and watched as she started verbally attacking Glenn. Even though being bombarded by paparazzi was something she didn't want, Cadence liked seeing how instantly protective Juliette became.

" _I know, I understand Juliette. I_ _'_ _ve tried to keep Cadence on the down low for the past few days but it_ _'_ _s hard when she goes out with you in big public spaces. There must be word out there that she_ _'_ _s with you._ _"_

"Glenn. It is your job to keep it under control for a week. Now I don't care what you have to do I want you to make sure those pictures from today are gone. If there is footage, get rid of them too. I'll pay whatever I have to. I don't want them near my daughter again, got it?"

She heard Glenn took a deep breath on his end. He assured her he would do his best before hanging up. Juliette put her phone down and looked away from the road to focus on Cadence. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little freaked out that's all. And now slightly blind," she said as she rubbed her eyes.

"They don't get to do that to you. You didn't choose to be in the spotlight so you shouldn't be subjected to being followed everywhere you go," said Juliette. "I'm sorry."

"You're not the one who should be apologizing. You just wanted to take me to the mall like any normal mother and daughter would do. They were being assholes."

"Yeah they were assholes," Juliette chuckled. "Now where do _you_ want to go?"

"Well I thought about it, and I really just want to go back to your place and relax. We could watch a movie and order some food and that would be just as fun as driving all around Nashville."

Juliette looked over at Cadence once more, "Are you sure? I don't want you to limit yourself because you're afraid of them following us."

"No it's not that I promise. I was already thinking about this the other night."

"Well if that's what you want to do, then we'll do it," said Juliette.

"Awesome," said the young blonde as she leaned forward to turn on the radio. Cadence switched between different stations before stopping at one.

"Yes! I love this song," she said, just catching it at the beginning of the second verse.

 _ **So it goes**_

 _ **He can't keep his wild eyes on the road**_

 _ **Takes me home**_

 _ **Lights are off, he's taking off his coat, hmm, yeah.**_

 _ **I say, "I heard, oh, that you've been out and about with some other girl, some other girl."**_

Juliette started to laugh at how dramatic Cadence was being as she sung along. Before she went on to sing the next part, Juliette started before her, doing the same thing Cadence had been but made her voice soft and almost seductive just like Taylor's was in the song.

 _ **He says, "What you've heard is true but I**_

 _ **Can't stop thinking about you," and I...**_

 _ **I said, "I've been there, too, a few times.**_ _ **"**_

Cadence started laughing and went along with Juliette into the chorus. She had turned down a backroad to get to her home and both Cadence and Juliette kept singing along. As Juliette picked up speed, the wind blew through their hair and Cadence threw her hands up in the air.

 _ **Take me home**_

 _ **Just take me home, yeah.**_

 _ **Just take me home**_

Juliette took a quick second to look over at Cadence and noticed that this was the happiest she had seen her all week. She realized in that moment this was what Cadence wanted all along, moments like the one they were currently in. While at the beginning her and Cadence were at an awkward start, Juliette could safely say that she and Cadence are at a good place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Food's here," said Juliette, entering her room holding a brown bag that contained Chinese food.

"Finally," said Cadence as she stood up from Juliette's bed, setting her guitar off to the side. Before Juliette went down to see if the food had arrived, they had been working on a new song which had been coming along well. Juliette set the bag on the bed and started pulling out the white take out boxes.

"Sweet and sour chicken for you," she said, handing Cadence her food. "And vegetable lo mein for me."

"Thanks," said Cadence, taking the set of plastic utensils Juliette handed her. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Juliette sat down on her bed next to Cadence, "Well I have to make up some of the interviews I canceled today so I'm going to be pretty busy over the next couple of days."

"I figured," Cadence slightly chuckled. "I'll probably just stay here or make plans with Drew."

"Okay," said Juliette after she took a bite of her noodles. "What is going on between you and him?"

"Nothing, I promise we're just friends. Plus he's eighteen and I'm sixteen, nothing can really happen, ya know?"

Juliette nodded, "But you would come and talk to me if you did have any interest in a boy wouldn't you?"

"You'll be the first to know," said Cadence. "There is no way I would go to Dad. We're close, but when it comes to just the idea of me dating…he can't imagine his little girl with a boy."

Juliette smiled, "Well I can't say I'm surprised by that. He has been protective of you since the day you were born."

"Yeah, protective is right," said Cadence. "I remember when I was twelve I invited this boy named Trevor over to work on a project for school and I remember Dad just watching us at a distance. He knew nothing would happen but he just wanted to be sure and to _supervise_ what we were doing." She finished the quick story, feeling a sense of awkwardness taking over the room. It was hard for her not to bring up Avery at all. "If you don't want me to talk about him I won't."

"No you can Cadence," Juliette assured her, feeling bad about letting her emotions stand out.

"You guys are the same way when it comes to me talking about both of you to one another. Well…for Dad it's more about me asking."

"You said he never hid me away from you…what has he told you about me?"

"A lot," Cadence laughed as Juliette grew concern.

"Cadence…"

"No I promise it's nothing bad. Just some of the things you did and have said. He told me about the time you stalked him with Emily to see what he was doing with Sadie Stone," said Cadence as she started to laugh again. "And then he saw you and you tried to get away on a scooter."

"Oh so you like that story don't you?" Juliette asked as Cadence nodded and continued to laugh.

"One of the best," said the younger blonde. "But my favorite is how you guys met at the Opry. Well I should really say how you guys bumped into each other at the Opry."

Juliette couldn't help but smile at the memory, "That's a good one."

"I remember asking him to tell me that story all the time when I was little. I never got tired of it," said Cadence as she took a bite of her sweet and sour chicken.

"I'm glad that he told you so much," said Juliette.

"Me too," Cadence agreed. "He also told me that you were the one who thought of my name."

"I was," said Juliette. "I was so paranoid at the thought of coming up with a name that you would have for the rest of your life that you hopefully wouldn't hate. I remember coming up with the worst names and suggesting them to your dad. But after you were born, I took one look at you and it just came to me."

Cadence looked over at her mom and smiled, "Well I can never find my name on a keychain or a mug in a gift shop but I don't hate it. I like to think it fits me well so, thank you."

Juliette nodded before taking another bite of her food. The two of them eventually finished and were ready to watch a movie of Cadence's choice. She went through the movie options on Netflix and eventually chose a favorite of hers.

"Is this okay?" Cadence asked, showing Juliette what she was about to play.

"Roman Holiday?"

"Yeah! Have you not seen it?"

"I haven't," said Juliette who was hoping to watch a scary movie or a comedy.

"It's so good, my grandma showed it to me a couple of years ago. Audrey Hepburn is a princess and she runs away because she wants to see what it's like not being a princess and Gregory Peck is a reporter who basically takes care of her but is actually trying to get a story out of the whole thing and…"

Cadence stopped explaining the movie as she realized that she was going to spoil the whole thing for Juliette. "You're going to love it, I know it," Cadence assured her.

"Okay," Juliette chuckled softly at how excited Cadence got at explaining the movie. The younger blonde pressed play on the remote and started to remove her side fishtail braid that she had in the whole day. Juliette took notice and offered her assistance.

"Here, let me," said Juliette.

Cadence stopped and turned, "Okay." She backed up a little closer to Juliette so she could untangle the braid easier. Juliette worked her way through her daughter's wavy blonde hair that was so much like her own, separating it from the bottom and working her way up. Cadence closed her eyes as Juliette's fingers ran through her hair. When she was little she was always envious of other little girls and how their mom's would brush their hair at night. It was just another little thing Cadence has always imagined she could've had with Juliette.

Juliette stopped right around when the opening credits of the movie finished, "Thanks," said Cadence as she adjusted herself back against Juliette's headboard.

"Yeah of course," said Juliette as the two of them focused their attention towards the movie.

As it went on and the movie started to finish, Cadence had adjusted her position on the bed but eventually fell asleep resting her head partially on Juliette's lap. Juliette had stayed awake to watch the end and Cadence was right, she did end up loving it.

Juliette then looked down at Cadence and noticed that her eyes were closed. She softly rested her hand on top of Cadence's head and gently stroked her hair, but was careful not to wake her up. She and Cadence had been becoming so close and had loved every second of getting to know her, that she started to think about how hard it was going to be to let Cadence go again. Tears started to form in Juliette's eyes, she wanted so badly for things to be different but she couldn't change the past. She knew that Cadence being with Avery was what was best.

* * *

 _ **So much Juliette and Cadence bonding I love it! I hope you all liked it too...and don't worry, Avery will be back VERY soon!**_

 _ **And is anyone else excited for Nashville coming back this week!? I'm freaking out over the new promo stills and spoilers. Pray for me guys! Lol!**_

 _ **If you like what you read please review, favorite, follow, etc. It means the world to me and it doesn't go unnoticed!**_

 _ **NEXT CHAPTER: Cadence and Drew get together and hang out while Juliette continues to do some last minute tour and single promotion. But with her and Cadence's recent public outings Juliette starts to get questioned, leading to her saying something that strikes Cadence emotionally and causing an issue between the mother and daughter.**_


	6. Fantasy vs Reality

**New chapter, yay! I apologize for how short this chapter is but I hope the content makes up for it :) This was more of a filler chapter for me, but an important one. I hope you all like it. I also appreciate all of the reviews, alerts, and favorites for this story, it means a lot and I'm glad that you all are enjoying it.**

 ***I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!***

* * *

"So how have things been with your mom?"

"Great…really great actually."

"Well that's good," said Drew as he and Cadence stood in line for the Grilled Cheeserie food truck. Since Juliette had to catch up on tour promotion, Cadence made plans with Drew for the day. At the moment they were at Centennial Park.

"Yeah, it's been good spending time with her. I've missed her," said Cadence. While Drew had become a friend to Cadence, she still didn't want to tell him the truth.

"So what's good here?" she asked as they started to get closer to the front of the line.

"The Pimento Mac and Cheese is my favorite. It's so cheesy and gooey, there's bacon in it too," said Drew. "And you have to get the tomato soup with it."

Cadence chuckled at how enthusiastic Drew sounded, "I didn't know someone could get so excited over grilled cheese."

"That's because it's the best, really anything you get from here will be good."

"I think I'll take your word on the one you like, the Pimito?"

"The Pimento Mac and Cheese."

"Got it," she laughed again at how he was quick to correct her. They eventually made it to the front of the line and Drew started to order.

"Two Pimento Mac and Cheese's and two tomato soups please," he said, then looking at Cadence. "What do you want to drink?"

"Wait what? I can pay for my own," said Cadence.

"I got it, my treat. I've got to show my southern hospitality somehow," he insisted.

Cadence smiled at him, "Thanks, and I'll just have a water."

"Two waters please," Drew added to the order. He paid the lady and were told to wait off the side for their food.

"You really didn't have to do that. I was going to pay for myself."

"Cadence it's okay, I wanted to."

"I just hate having to owe or rely on people."

"You don't have to pay me back or anything," said Drew.

"I just feel like I have to do something for you now."

He playfully put his hands on the side of Cadence's shoulders, "Trust me it's fine. Just eat all of it, that's how you can owe me."

"Okay, okay," she laughed softly.

"Two Pimento Mac and Cheese's and two tomato soups," said the lady. They went back to get their sandwiches and thanked the lady. Drew and Cadence made small talk as they walked to find a spot to sit and eat.

"Here looks good," said Drew as they sat on a bench near the Parthenon.

"Are you going to miss it here when you go back to Ohio?" Drew asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"I am, everyone has been so nice and welcoming to me here," she said as she took a bite of her sandwich as well. "And the food is amazing, oh my god…that's the best grilled cheese I ever had!"

Drew through his hands up, "What did I tell you?"

"I think I'm going to pass out it's that good," Cadence said with her eyes wide, still not over how good the sandwich was.

"Now you really can't leave," Drew laughed.

Cadence laughed too, "No I really can't now."

"Have you told your dad you want to stay here with you mom?"

At first Cadence was a little hesitant to respond. It was something she thought about recently but she knew it wouldn't happen. She didn't feel ready for a full move yet, plus she couldn't just leave her dad. It would be wrong.

"I think I would win the worst daughter award if I did that to my dad," she joked.

"Why not? Things are going great with your mom now, you've been with your dad for so long. It makes sense."

"No you don't get it, it's so far from it making sense."

"What do you mean?" Drew asked.

"My dad raised me Drew, he has done everything for me for the past sixteen years. To just say, 'I don't want to live with you anymore' and move to Nashville is wrong. I can't do that to him. I love Nashville but I love my dad more."

"I'm sorry for asking," he said.

"It's fine," Cadence responded.

"I wish I could speak so highly of my dad like that. He's not a deadbeat or anything, we're just not close."

"What happened?"

"Different interests, plus he never had the time to bond with me."

"I'm sorry, that's the worst."

"Yeah tell me about it," he said as he took another bite of his grilled cheese. Cadence could have _really_ told him about it if she wanted to, but decided to hold back.

"What time is it?" Cadence asked.

"Almost one, why?"

"Juliette's radio interview is on, I told her I would listen to it if I could. Do you care?"

"No not at all," he said.

Cadence looked up the radio station on her phone and found the streaming link. It pulled the station right up and was live.

" _ **We**_ _ **'**_ _ **re here now with Juliette Barnes to talk about her twentieth number one single Cold Hearted and to also talk about her new tour that kicks off in just three days! Welcome back to our studio Juliette.**_ _ **"**_

" _Thank you, it_ _'_ _s great to be here again._ _"_

" _ **You are always welcome here, especially when you have reached such an impressive milestone of twenty number one singles. Cold Hearted is such a great hit, how do you feel with your career at this point in country music?**_ _ **"**_

" _It feels amazing, I_ _'_ _ve had the best team and the best fans. Country music has been so good to me over the years, even with my own issues I have caused, I love it and it_ _'_ _s home to me. And Cold Hearted was the perfect song to choose as a single and I_ _'_ _m glad it_ _'_ _s getting the response and love just as I thought it would._ _"_

" _ **That**_ _ **'**_ _ **s great to hear, now with the tour. What can your fans expect this time around?**_ _ **"**_

" _I always like to change up my shows each time I go out on the road. I want to give the fans who have been with me since the beginning a new show but nothing too new that they wouldn_ _'_ _t recognize who I am as an artist. I like to think I have grown with my fans and they have grown with me._ _"_

" _ **And with your new fans?**_ _ **"**_

" _They_ _'_ _re in for one hell of a show I can tell you that. And hopefully they_ _'_ _ll stick with me with more tours and albums to come._ _"_

Cadence's smile disappeared a little. She knew Juliette's career was important and she didn't want to take that away from her. But the tone in Juliette's answer didn't make her feel confident in the fact that she was going to try and make more time for Cadence in the future.

" _ **Well as a fan myself, I can assure the audience that they need to see you on tour. Worth every penny.**_ _ **"**_

" _Thank you._ _"_

" _ **Now to something a little more off topic. I have to ask because we have been bombarded with questions from listeners who knew you were coming on here. But in the past few days, there are some pictures that have come to surface of you with a young blonde and everyone keeps saying that it**_ _ **'**_ _ **s your daughter Cadence. Is this true? Has she been with you in Nashville for the past week?**_ _ **"**_

There was a significant pause on Juliette's end but then she answered.

" _No that is not my daughter, just a friend_ _'_ _s daughter. A close friend and I have known her daughter for a long time._ _"_

" _ **So you still haven**_ _ **'**_ _ **t seen your daughter in the past fifteen**_ _ **…**_ _ **sixteen or so years?**_ _ **"**_

" _I have not, she is with my ex husband._ _"_

" _ **Alright well there you have it everyone, the answer from Juliette Bar-**_ _ **"**_

Cadence closed out of the station and put her phone in her bag angrily.

"Are you okay?" Drew asked, not sure of what else to say to the clearly upset blonde.

"Um can you just take me back to my place please?"

"Yeah of course."

"I'm sorry to end this early but…yeah I just want to go."

"It's no problem Cadence," said Drew as they got up from the bench to leave.

After the radio interview was over, Juliette met up with Glenn and Emily outside of the studio. "What the HELL was that? I thought all of the pictures were gone Glenn! You told me they were GONE!"

"I thought they were Juliette but those I haven't seen. They look like pictures fans have taken that just came out."

"I want every. single. picture. gone. And I want both of you to make sure that no other interviewer today asks me about Cadence."

Emily and Glenn nodded as they followed Juliette out of the building. They got into the car and left for the next interview as Juliette pulled out her phone. She smiled after she turned it on and looked at her lock screen. It was a cute selfie of the two of them Cadence had taken at one point yesterday. Juliette went into her phone and started to text Cadence.

 _About halfway done with interviews. How_ _'_ _s everything going with Drew?_

She closed her phone and waited for a response from her daughter, but never got one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Juliette entered her home after a long day of last minute interviews and tour prep. She walked in further and placed her things on the kitchen island and letting out a sigh. Still not hearing from Cadence all day, she started to head upstairs to see if she was in her room.

"Cadence I'm back," she announced. Slightly mad at her for not texting her at all to let her know she was okay, she didn't want to start an argument. Juliette felt like it still wasn't her place.

"Hey," she knocked before opening the door to the guest bedroom. "Why didn't you text me today?"

Juliette saw Cadence lying down on the bed, her back facing her. "Cadence?" she asked aloud, seeing if she was asleep. The older blonde stepped closer but stopped when her daughter sat up and quickly turned around. The sixteen year old's cheeks were pink and tear stained and her eyes were puffy.

"Why do you care that I haven't texted you all day?" she asked angrily.

"Wait what?" Juliette asked in a confused tone.

"Don't pretend like you care about me at all okay. I got the message loud and clear on your radio interview today," she said as she got off the bed.

Juliette thought back to earlier and remembered the interview, "Yeah and? Why are you so upset about it?"

"Are you kidding? Do you really not remember what you said about me today?" she asked her mom again, tears welling up in her eyes once more.

Juliette remembered what she said but was still confused, "What's wrong with what I said? I thought you didn't want me saying anything while you were here."

Cadence shook her head, "You don't get it! You still won't acknowledge me for who I am! Are you still _that_ embarrassed for what happened? That people will find out that Juliette Barnes' life isn't as perfect as it seems?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about Cadence."

"Yes I do, I now see you for who you really are. You're a coward."

"What the hell do you want me to do Cadence? Ever since you got here I have done everything I could to build a relationship with you!" Juliette yelled. Fighting with Cadence only made her think of when she would fight with Avery.

"I want you to be honest to everyone about me, you, and dad and what happened sixteen years ago. That's what I want. I realized that our relationship can't be built on this…this lie! It's unfair to me," Cadence said loudly as she cried. "It's unfair that I have to lie to everyone I know about who you are for so many years and why I haven't seen you. It's unfair that I have to lie to Dad about where I am. It's unfair that I had to live without you in my life knowing that you chose to not be in it!"

Juliette started to feel tears in her eyes as well, as she listened to her daughter. She knew that Cadence was hurt from what happened in the past, it was different actually hearing it coming from her. The sixteen year old started to leave the room, having to walk past her mother. Juliette attempted to grab her arm to stop her, "Cadence I…"

"Don't touch me!" she demanded as she pulled away out of Juliette's reach. "I'm not going to your stupid release party either. I got a new plane ticket and I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

Cadence started to leave but paused again and turning back to her, "I wanted to prove Dad wrong about you, I wanted us to work out but it didn't. I was the one who was wrong. You're not my mother, and you never will be. You're just a woman who happens to be related to me. "

Juliette stood there defeated and watched as Cadence left the room, slamming the door behind her. She cried as she went over to the bed and sat down, she lost all that she had with Cadence.

The younger blonde quickly went down the stairs and down the hallway, trying to find the downstairs bathroom. Distraught and not paying attention, she opened a door to a room that wasn't the bathroom. She stopped at the sight of lavender colored walls and a white crib in the middle of the room. Instead of leaving to find the bathroom, her curiosity led her to step in. The carpet was white and soft and a tall giraffe stood in the corner of the room. Cadence touched the edge of the crib as she walked around the room, knowing it was once hers.

She then reached one of the dressers and noticed a snow globe sitting on the top. She picked it up and looked at the picture in the middle, one she hadn't seen before. It was of the three of them and it all looked so perfect. Cadence looked at the words _Our Family_ as she traced her fingers over the engraving. Letting out a shuddered breath she sat down in the green chair, having no knowledge it was Avery's. Tears formed in her bright blue eyes realizing the picture in the globe was now a fantasy compared to the reality she was living. Cadence sobbed in the nursery that was once hers, now knowing that there was no chance that the three of them could be a family again.

* * *

 _ **Rough ending right? It's only going to go downhill from here I'm sad to say. The next chapter is everything you have all been waiting for...so you can assume who is going to be back ;)**_

 _ **I'm not going to do a preview of the next chapter because I want to keep it somewhat of a surprise. But I can assure everyone that it is drama filled! I will update as soon as I can.**_


	7. Take Me Home

**A new chapter? YAY! Well this is the big one...big as in dramatic and also because this thing ended up being over 8,000 words. CRAZY! I don't think I have ever written so much for a chapter, but it was definitely necessary for this one. I hope everyone really enjoys this as much as I enjoyed thinking about all I wanted to be included in this.**

 **Also a HUGE shoutout to my new Nashville friend Taylor who has been the biggest supporter of this story and has been encouraging me for weeks to work on this chapter. She has just been the absolute best! Ily so much Taylor, I hope you love it!**

 ***I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS***

* * *

" _Hey,_ _"_ _said Avery upon entering the front door of his house, technically his new house. He had finally moved out of the small apartment he and Cadence had been living in and into a spacious new home._

" _Hey,_ _"_ _said Savannah._ _"_ _How did it go?_ _"_

" _It was good,_ _"_ _Avery nodded._

" _Just good? Like are you guys going to have a second date? Like that kind of good or you_ _'_ _re not going to see her again but it was nice to get out._ _"_

 _He softly chuckled at his sister as he moved between moving boxes to get to the living room like an obstacle course._ _"_ _I mean_ _…_ _we both said we would go out on another date._ _"_

" _Well then that_ _'_ _s really good,_ _"_ _she said._ _"_ _I_ _'_ _m glad to see you finally dating again._ _"_

" _You don_ _'_ _t think it_ _'_ _s too overwhelming for Cadence do you? Just moving into a new place, me dating again._ _"_

" _She_ _'_ _s doing fine Avery. She_ _'_ _s six now, she would tell you if she was upset._ _"_

 _Avery nodded,_ _"_ _How was she tonight? Did she go to bed on time?_ _"_

" _Well she missed you a lot and wanted to stay up until you got home,_ _"_ _said Savannah._ _"_ _But she listened and did what I asked her to do. No problems._ _"_

" _Good,_ _"_ _he said._ _"_ _I better go up and check on her but thank you so much Savannah._ _"_

" _Yeah of course,_ _"_ _she said as she exchanged a hug with her brother._ _"_ _Whenever your next date is, let me know and I_ _'_ _ll watch her again._ _"_

" _Thank you,_ _"_ _he said as Savannah grabbed her things and started to leave._

" _Bye,_ _"_ _she said, opening the door and closing it behind her._

" _Bye,_ _"_ _Avery said back before letting out a tired sigh. Before heading to bed, he wanted to say goodnight to his daughter. Loosening his tie, he headed upstairs and went to the bedroom where the door was slightly cracked open, seeing a warm yellow glow coming from Cadence_ _'_ _s nightlight. He quietly started to open the door so he wouldn_ _'_ _t wake his daughter. Avery then heard soft shuffling on the floor and the ruffling of covers._

" _Cadence?_ _"_ _he asked as he opened the door. The light from the hallway entered the room, illuminating the little girl_ _'_ _s face. She had her eyes closed tight as the light hit her face, pretending to be asleep._

" _No, no, no, I heard you Cadence,_ _"_ _he said walking further._

 _She then pulled the covers over her head and started to giggle, trying to hide from her dad. Avery got closer and sat at the end of her bed,_ _"_ _Come on silly girl, what are you doing up so late?_ _"_

" _Waiting for you to come home,_ _"_ _said Cadence in a tired tone, uncovering herself so she could see him._

" _But it_ _'_ _s late sweetie._ _"_

" _I couldn_ _'_ _t sleep Daddy! My new room is scary, I was trying to find more of my stuffed animals in the boxes._ _"_

 _Avery couldn_ _'_ _t complain, Cadence was always a good sleeper so he understood her reasons for still being awake._ _"_ _Well who were you trying to find?_ _"_

" _My bunny and my elephant._ _"_

 _Avery stood up and went over to the boxes on the side of the room._ _"_ _I think I remember putting them in this box,_ _"_ _he said as he lifted one box to get to the one he was talking about._

" _How was your date Daddy?_ _"_

" _It was good, she was very nice,_ _"_ _Avery said as he continued to search in the box._

" _Was she pretty?_ _"_

 _Avery chuckled softly,_ _"_ _Yes she was._ _"_

" _Am I going to see her?_ _"_

 _Avery pulled out the bunny and the elephant Cadence wanted and walked back over to her bed._ _"_ _You are worse than Aunt Savannah,_ _"_ _he said after handing her the stuffed animals. Cadence giggled and smiled excitedly as she took her two stuffed animals and gave them a tight hug._

" _And I don_ _'_ _t know yet, we need to go on a few more dates before anything like that can happen._ _"_

" _Why?_ _"_ _she asked further._

" _Because I don_ _'_ _t want anyone less than perfect to meet you and to be in your life the way she would be,_ _"_ _Avery said as he leaned down and pressed a kiss on Cadence_ _'_ _s forehead._ _"_ _You need to get some sleep now._ _"_

" _But Daddy! I have another question._ _"_

 _Avery sighed,_ _"_ _Yes?_ _"_

" _You said your date was pretty but what about my mommy, was she pretty? She had to be because you liked her right?_ _"_

 _Avery started to get choked up at the question. It was the first time Cadence had really asked about Juliette._

" _Yes she is,_ _"_ _said Avery, speaking of Juliette in the present tense._ _"_ _You look just like your mommy._ _"_

" _I do?_ _"_ _the six year old questioned._

 _Avery nodded and started to smile a little,_ _"_ _You both have the same nose, the same hair_ _…_ _you remind me of her._ _"_

 _Cadence smiled,_ _"_ _That means I_ _'_ _m just as pretty, right?_ _"_

" _You are the most beautiful girl in my life and you always will be,_ _"_ _said Avery, giving Cadence a kiss on the cheek._

 _The blonde then wrapped her arms around Avery_ _'_ _s neck for a hug,_ _"_ _I love you Daddy._ _"_

 _Avery smiled and was happy that Cadence didn_ _'_ _t ask anymore questions,_ _"_ _I love you too Cadence,_ _"_ _he said before giving the tired little girl one last kiss before tucking her in._

" _Goodnight,_ _"_ _said Avery as she stood up from the bed and left the room quietly, closing the door behind him. He ran his hand through his brown hair, concerned that he now couldn_ _'_ _t stop thinking about Juliette._

Cadence had eventually gone up to her room that night and had planned to not leave her room until she had to, but her stomach had other plans. She hadn't eaten since she had lunch with Drew the previous day so by now, she was starving.

She left the room quietly and quickly headed downstairs and into the kitchen to see if she could make something fast and bring it back to her room before Juliette would see her. The blonde's stomach grumbled again making her sigh, she was hoping there would be something to eat.

Cadence entered the kitchen and started searching for food. She found a box of instant mac and cheese in the cabinet and a bag of lettuce for a salad in the fridge among other food items she was finding. The selection was much better than when she first got there. While looking around she peered over into the living room where she saw a few bottles of alcohol on the coffee table that weren't there the previous night. The blonde stopped searching for something to eat and entered the living room, only to find Juliette sprawled out on the couch.

A wave of concern immediately went over Cadence at the sight of her mother, but then she remembered all of the anger she caused. But in that moment the concern outweighed the anger and Cadence got closer to Juliette to see if she was okay. She picked up the bottle of vodka and saw that it was completely empty, as well as the other bottles sitting on the coffee table.

The teen knelt down by Juliette's head and started to shake her shoulder, "Juliette get up," she said angrily as she shook.

"Hey!" she said louder, hoping an increase in her voice would help, but nothing. Cadence never had to experience trying to get a passed out person to wake up, and she never thought thought that person would be her own mother. Seeing Juliette in the state she was currently in made her realize just exactly why her dad didn't want her near Juliette growing up.

Cadence continued to shout and shake Juliette, trying to get her to get up. "MOM GET UP!" she yelled before stopping to run back into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water as fast as she could, careful not to spill it as she made her way back to where Juliette laid still. Cadence tearfully threw the water onto Juliette to see if she would move.

The water hit Juliette and soon she started to move and groan. Cadence sighed with relief and waited for Juliette to fully realize her current state.

"Cadence…"

"I can't do this with you," said the sixteen year old as a tear rolled down her cheek. She slammed the empty class on the coffee table next to the empty bottles of alcohol.

The front door opened and Glenn and Emily walked in the middle of the moment as Cadence started to leave the living room to head upstairs again.

"What the hell happened?" Glenn asked, trying to figure out what had happened between the mother and daughter.

Cadence wiped away the tears from her face and looked at both Glenn and Emily, "Ask her," she said dryly before leaving the three adults to discuss what happened.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a few hours since Cadence found Juliette in the living room and left Emily and Glenn to deal with the mess. Since then she had locked herself in the guest room, wanting to be left alone.

"Me coming here was a huge mistake," Cadence said to Peyton as she cried over the phone. She threw some of her clothes into her suitcase that was laid out on the bed. Cadence walked over to the nightstand and grabbed the snow globe she had found the previous night and carefully tucked it in between her clothes so that it was protected for the flight home.

"No it wasn't Cadence, you…"

"Yes it was! We have gotten no where in our relationship, the only thing she cares about is herself, and to top it all off I found her completely passed out this morning after our fight last night."

"Jesus christ are you serious?"

"Yeah I am. My dad keeps texting me and I've just been sending him quick replies back saying I'm fine. He'll never forgive me if he finds out I did this, especially now since nothing good has come out of me meeting her."

Peyton sighed into the phone, she didn't know what else she could say to her friend. "Well since you're heading home early, you can stay at my place. You know where we keep our spare key."

"Thanks…" said Cadence as she heard a knock on the door. She put her cell phone down slightly to hear who it was.

"Cadence, it's me," said Emily from the other side.

"Peyton I have to go. I'll text you later okay?"

"Okay, keep me updated on what's going on. I'm here for you."

"Thanks, bye," said Cadence before she hung up. She tossed her phone on the bed and walked over to the door to unlock it.

"Hey," Emily said in a comforting tone when she saw the sixteen year old.

Cadence gave her a weak smile in return. She wanted to be more happy to see Emily but there was too much anger and sadness in her to do so.

"Can we talk?"

"If you're going to try and convince me to stay you can't. My plane leaves in a few hours."

"Well can I help you finish packing then?"

Cadence nodded as she walked towards the dresser and continued to remove her clothes and placed them in the suitcase. "Thank you for everything you did for me while I was here Emily, and Glenn too," the blonde added.

"Of course, we're basically family after all."

"Yeah," Cadence reluctantly agreed. It was hard for her to feel a sense of family unity at the moment but she knew Emily was coming from a good place.

"I'm sorry you had to see Juliette like that," said Emily. "It's something that you should've never seen."

"Does that happen a lot with her?"

"No, she hasn't done that in a really long time. The fight you two had last night was probably why she drank so much."

"Wait so it's my fault?"

"That's not what I'm saying at all Cadence. Glenn and I were just talking to her downstairs and she told us what happened, everything, she feels horrible."

"Good, she should," Cadence said coldly.

Emily placed a few of Cadence's items into the suitcase, "Glenn and I didn't agree with what she said at the radio station. We have always wanted her to tell the truth. But to tell the truth she has to think about your dad and what he wants to be told. Both of them need to talk to each other."

"That will never happen," said Cadence.

"It's the only way I think she'll tell the truth. She doesn't want to do anything without your dad's involvement," Emily explained. "I also think there was a miscommunication on your part too."

Cadence looked at Emily, "What?"

"In order for your dad not to know you have been here, you couldn't be seen in the public eye. Part of why she said what she said at the radio station was because of what you wanted. None of this is because she is ashamed of you. She's not ashamed of you in the least."

Cadence sat down on the bed and looked at Emily, "I'm sure she told you to say that."

"Yes and no," Emily smiled as she sat down next to Cadence. "All day yesterday she kept talking about you. I had to keep reminding her what to say for the interviews and where we were going next. It was all about how talented and how incredible you are. If anything she is proud of you and the young woman you've become."

"Really?"

Emily nodded, "Really."

"I guess part of it was my fault," the blonde sighed. "But I'm not ready to forgive her for everything."

"That's completely understandable, and she knows that," said Emily. "Well it looks like you're just about packed, is there anything else you need from me?"

"Yeah, can you get me a new plane ticket for tomorrow?" she asked. "I think I want to stay for the party. Not just for Juliette, I don't think I'm ready to leave Nashville just yet."

Emily smiled, "Of course."

Cadence opened her arms and hugged Emily. "Thank you," she said simply.

"You're welcome sweetie," said Emily. "Do you need help getting ready?"

Cadence looked over at the royal blue Burberry dress hanging on the closet door, "Yeah I do."

Back in Ohio, Avery was in his car, just about to head to his store before he felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Scarlett calling.

"Hey Scarlett," he answered. "Everything okay?" He only asked because it was odd for her to call him for anything so early in the day.

"Where's Cadence?" she asked immediately.

"Um she's down in Florida with her friend Peyton, why are you asking?"

'I'm only asking to make sure I'm not imagining things on the internet. I just sent you the link."

Avery pulled the phone away from his ear and opened his messages to access the link Scarlett just sent him. As soon as it opened, several pictures of Cadence with Juliette came up with the headline _Juliette Barnes Spends Time with her Daughter in Nashville._ Avery didn't care for the rest of the article, he studied the images for a moment and it all started to make sense. Cadence lied to him about the whole trip.

He held his phone tighter as anger grew in him. "She lied to me," he said to Scarlett through the phone.

"Avery calm down," said Scarlett.

"No I'm not going to calm down. She deliberately ignored everything I have said to her and she goes and does this!"

"What are you going to do?" Scarlett asked worriedly.

Avery put his key in the ignition and turned it to start, "I'm going to Nashville to get my daughter."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours had passed and it was almost six o'clock. Downstairs, Juliette just finished getting ready for the party. Her wardrobe assistant and stylist were doing their finishing touches.

"Emily has been up there with Cadence for hours," Juliette asked. All day she felt horrible for everything that happened in the past twenty four hours. She knew Cadence was supposed to head home earlier but she assumed she changed her mind, but it was unknown if she was going to the party or not.

"Well I take it as a good sign," said Glenn. "You look great."

Juliette observed herself in the mirror at her emerald colored party dress, she knew she looked best in the color. Her hair flowed down her shoulder, all off to the one side. She grabbed her clutch and started leaving her room with Glenn following behind.

They made their way into the living room where they saw both Emily and Cadence, dressed and waiting for them.

"Ready to go?" Emily asked.

"Yeah we're ready," said Glenn.

Juliette's eyes were focused on Cadence, she could tell she wasn't fully into going, especially for her. She walked closer to the teen, "You look stunning Cadence." The royal blue color of the dress complimented her eyes perfectly, her hair was in a low, off to the side "messy"bun, and the nude heels she was wearing gave her a little more height.

"Thanks," she said. "Emily helped a lot."

Juliette looked over at Emily and gave her an acknowledging look. Emily nodded before speaking up, "Why don't Glenn and I head out to the car."

"Yeah we'll be there in a minute," said Juliette, who waited until Emily and Glenn had left so she could talk to Cadence. Glenn stopped by Cadence and gave her a quick, comforting hug before he headed out the door with Emily.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," she said.

"I'm not going for you, I'm going because I wasn't ready to leave just yet. Rayna, Deacon, Maddie, and Daphne are going to be there, and Drew is too. I want to see them one last time before I leave. I'm not ready to forgive you yet."

Juliette nodded understandingly, "I don't expect you to, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything sweetheart. I never wanted…"

"I know, you never wanted any of this to happen. But it did Juliette, no matter what you try to do, you can't change the past."

Juliette became saddened over Cadence's change of heart. She was so optimistic a week ago, but now her outlook towards Juliette was nothing but negativity and horrible memories.

"We better go," said Cadence as she made her way to the door.

"Yeah," Juliette agreed in a somber tone. She was heading to a party to celebrate a huge achievement in her career, one that she couldn't be happy about to attend.

They arrived at the venue soon after they left and had to wait in the car for a few minutes before entering. Glenn had to let the security know that Juliette was there. Cadence looked at her dead phone in her hand, clicking the circle button at the bottom just to see if it would turn on, still knowing that it wouldn't.

"Emily do you have a phone charger?" the teen asked, easily ignoring Juliette's presence.

"No I'm sorry I don't," she said as she looked in her bag to double check. "You don't have one on you by any chance Juliette?"

Juliette noticed how passive Cadence was being, "No I don't."

"Do you think I can just go through the back or something? Drew is probably here already and I can't text him to let him know I'm here."

"No you have to stay here. I'm not letting you go out there by yourself. There's press all around this place and you don't need them hounding you."

Cadence held back a few smart remarks she could have made, but decided to pick her battles.

"I could go with her," said Emily. "It really isn't a problem, plus you already have Glenn with you."

"Perfect, let's go Emily," said Cadence as she opened the back passenger door to get out of the car.

"Glad to see you and my daughter are getting along," Juliette said to Emily once Cadence wasn't able to hear.

"Juliette…"

"Oh no it's fine, just go," Juliette ordered.

Emily let out a sigh as she got out of the car and stood with Cadence. They were on the opposite side of the car from where the press and the entrance to the party were. Glenn then saw them and asked what they were doing.

"I'm taking Cadence to the back so she can get in there," said Emily.

"I just don't want to do all of the pictures and questions," the blonde added.

"Totally understandable," Glenn smiled. "Follow me and I'll make sure a security guard goes with you two." The three of them went around the car and Glenn talked to one of the security guards. He then led Emily and Cadence to the back of the venue safely without any problems.

Glenn opened the car door for Juliette to get out. Her upset face instantly turned into her famous bright smile once she was being seen by fans and photographed by the press. She had to hide every emotion she was feeling that had the ability to be seen through her face. Fans off to the side were screaming and the press called her out by name to get her attention. Juliette smiled and waved just as she knew how.

"Everything okay?" Glenn whispered in her ear.

"Of course," said Juliette. "Everything is great."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm glad you feel better since last night. My mom was actually excited to see me dress nice for something," said Drew. They were now about an hour and a half into the party.

"Yeah," Cadence agreed. "Just an overnight stomach bug."

After her previous decision to not attend the party, she had told Drew not to go since she wasn't going, telling him she wasn't feeling well. But after changing her mind, she told him she had been feeling better.

"Especially your mom, it would suck if you weren't able to come on your last day here."

"I don't know," said Cadence as they stood more towards the corner of the room, watching others pass by and talk. She looked over and saw Juliette talking to some people who Cadence assumed were in the business. "She has other priorities to worry about than just me tonight."

"Well I have to congratulate her at some point, she did let me come after all," said Drew.

"Yeah I guess," said Cadence, showing off a small smile.

"How about I get us something to drink?"

"Sure, I'll just have a water."

"You sure?"

"Yeah it's fine, thanks."

"I'll be right back," said Drew before he left.

Cadence watched him leave as she caught eyes with Maddie and Daphne through the crowd. "Hey!" said Cadence once she saw the sisters' faces brighten upon seeing her.

"Hey!" said Daphne, being the first to give the teen a hug. "You look amazing Cadence."

"Yeah that dress is so gorgeous," Maddie agreed as she gave Cadence a hug as well.

"Thanks you guys," said Cadence before taking notice of something sparkling on Daphne's left hand. "Wait…that wasn't there a few days ago."

"Oh yeah, I'm engaged," Daphne beamed at her new ring, showing it off to Cadence.

"That's great, congrats!" said the sixteen year old. "What's his name?"

"It's actually her, her name is Kelsey," said Daphne.

"Oh I'm sorry," Cadence apologized. "I shouldn't have just assumed. But that's so great, I'm so happy for you!"

The two blondes hugged once more, "Hopefully you'll be able to come back for the wedding."

"Yeah I don't know," Cadence said sadly. "But hopefully I can." The teen tried to be hopeful, but she knew she wouldn't be able to come back.

"It's a shame that you're leaving tomorrow," said Maddie. "I wish the three of us could have spent more time together."

"I know me too," said Cadence just as Drew came back with their drinks.

"Here you go," he said, handing the drink to her.

"Drew you remember Maddie and Daphne right?"

"Yeah of course," he said as he shook both of their hands. "Last time we saw each other I was close to getting fired."

Maddie and Daphne laughed as well as Cadence. "Well I wouldn't have put it past Juliette to do that," said Daphne.

"But you and Cadence are friends so I think you're in the clear," said Maddie.

"Oh no it's the exact opposite actually. I have a feeling she still doesn't like me," said Drew.

"Well you were able to come tonight right?" Maddie asked. "So you're fine."

"I hope so."

"Well we'll leave you two alone," said Daphne. "There's a few people here we've been meaning to talk to."

"Yeah that's fine," said Cadence. "It was good seeing you two again before I had to leave."

"Of course Cadence," said Maddie as the two sisters gave the teen one more hug goodbye.

"It was great meeting you," said Daphne. "We'll have to arrange for you to come to one of our shows."

"That would be amazing, thanks you guys."

"Yeah no problem," said Maddie as she and Daphne walked away and into the crowd of people.

Soft noises of commotion came from the other side of the room where Cadence watched as Juliette stepped onto the small stage setup. "Looks like your mom is going to speak, want to get closer to the stage?" Drew suggested.

"No, here is fine," said Cadence. She started to hate the idea of attending the party more and more. A party celebrating the career Juliette chose over her. She looked around at the large, single cover art work that were hung up on the walls, twenty of them that overwhelmed her. While she was proud of what Juliette accomplished and one day aspired to do the same, it was still a hard visual to swallow.

"Hello everyone, thank you so much for coming tonight," Juliette started off saying into the microphone she was holding. "I'm going to try and keep this as short as I can, I just want to thank everyone who have been with me and have been a part of my career from the beginning. My incredible team and everyone at Highway 65, Rayna you've been so supportive of everything I have done since we decided working together, thank you."

Rayna who was standing off to the side with Deacon, smiled at Juliette and humbly accepted the loud applause from the crowd.

"My assistant Emily and my manager Glenn, my career wouldn't be where it is today without the both of you. You guys are my family now and I can't thank you both enough for what you do for me day after day," Juliette added as she focused her attention on Emily and Glenn who accepted their praises, letting the crowd applaud them as well.

"I would like to also thank one more person before I step off stage," said Juliette. "My daughter, Cadence."

Cadence looked at Juliette and focused on her. "I don't know where exactly she is right now, but she is here tonight. She is the most incredible person I have ever known and in the past week, she has taught me so much about what is most important in life," said Juliette as she held back her tears. "Thank you all again for coming, enjoy tonight." Everyone clapped one last time as Juliette stepped off the stage.

Emily and Glenn met up with the blonde. "I need you to get me in touch with Avery," said Juliette. "I can't keep doing this and neither can Cadence. I want joint custody, it's not too late."

"Well what you said up there was a step in the right direction," said Glenn. "I'll do everything I can."

"Thank you," said Juliette.

"You think Avery will agree to that?"

"I don't know, but I'm tired of not fighting for my daughter."

Cadence wasn't expecting a mention in the least. It made her have a little more faith in Juliette's intentions, not to mention how happy it made her feel to hear such things coming from her mother.

"Cadence, are you okay?" Drew asked, then putting a hand on her shoulder as if he was trying to get her out of a trance.

"Oh sorry," she apologized. "I'm good."

"Okay, 'cus for a second there it looked like you were in a trance or something," he added, still noticing that she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. She was looking through the crowd, towards the main entrance of the party.

Cadence noticed some security getting involved with someone trying to enter. Through the crowd she recognized the person trying to get in and her eyes widened. "Oh my god," she said, seeing that it was her dad.

"What? What's wrong?" Drew asked with concern.

"Um..nothing, I'll be right back. Just stay here."

She left her friend to help her dad. As she pushed through the party attendees, she tried to prepare herself for what was to come. She knew he wouldn't be able to trust her for a long time, let alone never be allowed to go anywhere. She was expecting the worst out of all of this.

"Excuse me," she kept saying until she got up to the entrance.

"I'm sorry Miss, but you can't leave. Right now we're trying to remove an uninvited guest."

"No that's the problem, he's my dad. You need to let him in," she said. Even though part of her regretted what she just said, the other part knew that if she didn't do anything, there would be an even bigger punishment. It was over, she just wanted the whole thing to be done with.

"But he is still not on the list for this event."

"My daughter is in there!" Cadence heard her dad shout as security was escorting him away from the building.

"What's going on?" Glenn asked as he approached the scene.

"My dad is here…"

"Avery is here?"

Cadence nodded, "Yeah I saw him trying to get in."

Glenn sighed, not knowing what to do, then looking at Cadence, "What do you want to do?"

"It's over Glenn, he knows I'm here. The three of us need to talk about a lot, but not here."

Glenn sighed, knowing previously what Juliette had requested, "Let me go out there and talk to him first."

Cadence nodded and watched as security let Glenn through so he could talk to Avery. Once out of the building, he saw Avery outside pacing around, "Avery…"

"Where the hell is Cadence, Glenn!" he yelled.

"Avery it's okay, she's inside," Glenn raised his voice.

"No it's not okay! My daughter lied to me and ran off to see Juliette who doesn't care for her. I haven't been in contact with her for days!"

"A lot has happened that you don't know about Avery. You wouldn't know that Juliette has been better for years because you haven't communicated with her."

"You know that Juliette has not even tried to reach out to me!"

Glenn sighed, "Look, I didn't come out here to argue with you Avery. Cadence knows you're here and she wanted to see you. Juliette also wanted me to get in contact with you to talk to you. Now you're here so that's half the battle."

Avery ran his hand over his mouth, "So I can come in?"

"As long as you don't make a scene," said Glenn. "Come on."

Avery walked behind Glenn on the sidewalk and entered the building. After now being allowed in, Avery immediately spotted Cadence not too far from where he was.

She walked over to him, somewhat reluctantly, "Dad I'm so-." Cadence was going to finish but instead was pulled into her dad's arms. There was no hesitation with holding onto him just as tight as he was holding her. It would be wrong for Cadence to say she didn't miss him, she did. After feeling conflicted with everything for the past week, all she wanted was to talk to her dad but for him also to really listen and understand her.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said,

"Yeah Dad I'm fine," said Cadence as the two pulled away. "But I thought you would be more mad at me…why aren't you?"

"Oh no I am, I'm furious Cadence but right now I'm just glad you're okay."

The blonde sighed, "So, we have to talk…the three of us."

Avery looked up from Cadence and over her to see Juliette standing behind at a short distance. Cadence followed his stare and turned around to see Juliette as well. Neither of them had thought this would ever happen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emily was able to find a private room in the back so that Juliette, Avery, and Cadence could have a moment for themselves. She and Glenn had been listening in from outside the door, luckily for them it was mostly Juliette and Avery shouting at each other so it was easy to hear.

Inside, Cadence sat on a couch with her head in her hands, listening to her parents have it out with one another.

"I didn't know where you were Avery!" Juliette yelled.

"Bullshit Juliette, where did you honestly think I went?" he yelled back.

"Can the both of you please just shut up and stop yelling at each other?" Cadence then stood up, yelling over them as they bickered. "This isn't a conversation it's yelling."

She sat back down and took in their silence, "If this is what it would have been like if you two were still together, then I'm glad I didn't have to experience it all my life. You both certainly saved me from having hearing loss."

Both Juliette and Avery sighed as they looked over at their clearly upset daughter. "Okay you want to know the truth as to why I didn't make more of an effort after I went to rehab?" Juliette asked in a more relaxed tone.

"Oh so you haven't been telling us the truth so far?"

She looked at him and was ready to give up, "Alright you know what forget it."

"No please tell us, I'm sure you would like to tell us _both_ why."

"I already told her! I assumed you two were better off without me. You both have clearly moved on, especially you now that you're engaged."

"If you came to me and told me you had gotten help, maybe we could have had a chance still."

"You wouldn't have believed me Avery," said Juliette. "Not for a second. You're the one who sent me the divorce papers, remember?"

"Wait what?" Cadence spoke up, looking at her dad directly. "You're the one that wanted the divorce?"

Avery was quiet, not knowing what to say. Juliette became just as surprised as Cadence, "You made it seem to her that I was the one who got the divorce? Did you even tell her about me signing away my parental rights?"

"No Juliette, you were more than willing to sign away your parental rights."

"You wanted me to Avery! It was when I didn't have the right state of mind."

Cadence let out a breath as tears started to form in her eyes, "This whole time I thought it was her who ended everything. You were the one that wanted the divorce."

"Cadence please understand.."

"No, right now you're starting to have caused as much damage as she

has."

"I haven't caused any damage, you have no idea what you're talking about. I have given up everything for you, my life in Nashville, my career!"

"He hasn't Cadence," said Juliette, trying to ease the rising tension. "Nowhere near as much as I have."

The teen's breath shook as she looked between the two of them, "I need to leave, I can't take this anymore between the both of you."

Cadence stood up again to leave, looking at Juliette. "You didn't try to be in my life," she said, then switching focus to her dad. "And now with you apparently I have been a burden for the past sixteen years. I'm sorry I ruined your life and briefly interrupting yours." She looked directly at Juliette again for what she said last.

"We're not finished Cadence," said Avery, not knowing what else to say. He was more than hurt with what Cadence had said. It wasn't meant to come across the way she took it.

She was about to turn the door knob to leave but she turned around and back to face her parents. "Whatever _this_ is between us three can't and will never work and I'm just realizing this now. And I was an idiot to even think for a second that the two of you could…" Cadence looked at the two of them, both with hopeless and defeated faces, she couldn't finish what she was going to say.

"Forget it," she said before turning the doorknob to leave. She started to walk fast down the hallway, past Glenn and Emily and into the main party room.

She kicked her heels off and held them before working her way through the crowd to find Drew. "There you are!" said Drew, finding her first. "Where the hell have you been for like the past hour? Why are you crying?"

"I'll explain later, we have to get out of here though."

"Wait why?"

"Please stop asking questions! You drove here right?"

"Yeah I did," he said as he and Cadence started to make their way out. She looked back towards the hallway and saw her parents walking in her direction with Glenn and Emily. "I didn't park too far," she heard Drew say.

"Okay good, I have to get out of here."

Once out of the building, the two friends started to pick up their pace along the sidewalk, "Why are you trying to leave? Did something happen?"

"Kind of," said Cadence.

"You know what Cadence I'm tired of you not telling me what's going on! You have been so shady these past couple of days and now you're using me to get out of something you're obviously involved in!" he said loudly.

"I know Drew! Okay, I haven't been myself and right now I just need to be anywhere but here. Please just help me and I'll explain once we're in the car and driving away."

"Alright," he sighed. "Come on."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"She isn't here?" Juliette asked. The party was close to ending and Juliette requested the security to find Cadence after her, Avery, Glenn, and Emily couldn't find her themselves.

"No she isn't anywhere in the building Miss. Barnes. We searched everywhere, I'm sorry."

"Thank you," said Glenn.

"This isn't like her," said Avery.

"Wait wasn't she with that boy tonight?" Emily asked. "Maybe she's with him."

"You mean Drew?" Juliette asked further.

"Yeah, she's been hanging out with him a lot this week. I wouldn't be surprised if she was with him."

"Cadence has a boyfriend now? What else has she done while under your care and influence for the past week?"

"Will you please calm the hell down for a minute Avery," Juliette said to him. "And he isn't her boyfriend, he's just a friend. Trust me, I don't like the kid too much to begin with."

"But you still allow him to be around her? Okay yeah, great _parenting_."

"Will the both of you act mature for a second please?" Glenn said in an annoyed tone. "Cadence left on the count of both of you not being able to handle the circumstances of a situation that, in the end, both of you caused. She just needs some time right now to think."

"Okay but I want to know where she is. She hasn't been answering any of my texts," said Avery.

"Her phone has been dead since early this morning," said Emily. "You're not going to be able to get in contact with her."

"Then I'll just have to go out there and look for her," said Avery as he pulled out his keys.

"Wait I'm coming with you then," said Juliette.

"No you're not," Avery refused.

"Avery you can't stop me from coming. She's my daughter too," said Juliette.

"Fine," he said as he started walking away.

"Glenn you can finish the party right? If anyone asks where I am, just say there was an emergency."

"Yeah I've got it," said Glenn.

"Everything's going to be fine," Emily assured her friend before she left to follow Avery.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow."

"Yeah…"

Drew had driven Cadence to an out of the way spot, one that overlooked the city of Nashville. She had told Drew the truth about everything, why she was there, her relationship with Juliette, and why she was in a rush to leave the party.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Well I normally don't start friendships with sharing my life story."

"Cadence that's some heavy stuff," said Drew.

"Yeah, try living it," she said as she looked on at the beautiful city lit up at night. It started to rain a few minutes prior, causing the view to become dreamlike, looking through the wet, un-wiped glass.

"I said the worst things to them Drew, especially to my dad. I was just upset and angry and I just lashed out on him. My mom was actually trying to make the whole thing better and I still freaked out on her too. I'm the worst daughter, none of this is me."

"You've just had a lot to deal with, especially in the past few days. And you're probably not acting like yourself because things are changing in your life and you don't know how to react to it. You're in a new place, trying to build a relationship with Juliette…you're changing your life right now."

Cadence smiled at him, "You know you're a lot easier to talk to when I don't have to lie."

"Well just don't lie anymore and I can give you real advice," he said. "So how long did you want to stay here?"

"Not too long I guess," said Cadence. "I can't exactly stay here forever."

"Well let me know and I'll take you home, okay," he said to her. Drew watched as she started to close her eyes and started to get closer to her. Cadence could feel Drew close to her face, his lips started to grace hers just as she opened her eyes and pulled away.

"Drew what the hell?" she asked aloud. He pulled himself away and sat back in his seat again, pissed at himself.

"I thought you…"

"You thought I had feelings for you? Drew I see you as a friend and a friend only, I'm sorry."

"No it's fine."

"No you're not fine, you're pissed," said Cadence. "Even if I did have feelings for you, I'm not in the mood right now for that."

"Look I'm sorry, I thought us hanging out and singing together meant something," said Drew.

"It didn't and I'm sorry if I…led you on. Plus you're eighteen and I _just_ turned sixteen, we can't…"

"Wait do you see those guys behind us?" he asked, changing the subject, looking through his side and rear view mirrors.

"Drew I'm serious right now!"

"No really Cadence, they're holding cameras."

She looked through the mirrors to see what Drew was talking about. "Are you kidding me? How did they find me?"

"They must have followed us here from the party," said Drew, starting his engine.

"Please just take me home now," said Cadence. Once the engine started, the paparazzi ran up to their car, careful that Drew wouldn't run them over when he quickly backed out. They were quick to take the pictures they could despite the car moving. The multiple camera flashes made both Cadence and Drew close their eyes, Drew trying his best to still drive.

He pulled out of the area quickly, passing by the paparazzi cars that were parked, some actually ready to take off and to follow them. "There had to be like six cars just there," said Drew as he drove along the dark, rainy road.

Meanwhile, Juliette and Avery had been driving round Nashville for the past thirty minuets trying to find Cadence. "Avery this is pointless, we're not going to find her just driving around here."

"So you're giving up?"

"No, I'm just saying she might've been at my house the whole time. She doesn't know that many places in the city."

"You think you know Cadence after only being with her for a week? For all you know she could be with this Drew kid."

"You know what Avery, I get that you hate me and you don't want Cadence having anything to do with me, but you don't have to dismiss me like everything I say is irrelevant. I know I screwed up, but I'm trying to do better. And I have actually gotten know Cadence a decent amount during her time with me. I can tell she can be impatient at times because one morning I was making pancakes, she couldn't wait longer so she ended up eating a majority of the strawberries I had for the pancakes. She plays guitar, piano, ukulele, banjo, and can write amazing songs. Hell she's probably better than either of us. Her two favorite tv shows are Grey's Anatomy and Friends, she loves how opposite they are to one another. Her favorite thing to order from Chinese is sweet and sour chicken, and she loves old black and white movies," Juliette said to him. "I may not know all of the more personal stuff about her but I gathered what I could from the past week."

There was a silence between the two as Avery continued to drive. "She probably is back at your place," he eventually spoke before letting the silence take over again.

Drew and Cadence were still driving around, trying to get away from the paparazzi who continued to follow them. Drew had tried to lose them by going off on backroads and back onto main roads. He went back on a back road once again and started to pick up speed.

"Drew you're going really fast," Cadence said worriedly, seeing that he was going eighty in a forty-five.

"You want me to get rid of these guys?"

"At this point I'd rather just have them take their shot of me because getting killed in a car accident isn't worth it!"

"We're not going to get killed okay? Don't say that!"

The blonde looked out the passenger side mirror again and saw the car right up on Drew's back bumper, "Stop the car."

"No I'm not Cadence."

"Stop the car Drew I want to get out!"

"Are you crazy Cadence?"

"If crazy means me standing in the rain all night and walking home, NOT dead then call me the queen of crazy!"

Drew just continued to speed along the back road, ignoring Cadence. She was able to quickly catch the sight of a stop sign, then looking on her right, seeing the beginning of headlights coming in her direction. Her eyes went wide at what she realized was about to happen.

"DREW STOP!" she screamed as he ran through the stop, causing a SUV to ram right into Cadence's side of the car. The paparazzi cars going just as fast behind them went right into one another once as Dew's car was hit. Another impact on the car, only to cause more damage.

A passerby pulled over and went over to the scene of the accident. She was a middle aged woman who went over to Drew's car first. She observed him worriedly, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Drew breathed heavily, slowly opening his eyes. He started to cry and panic over what he caused. He was afraid to look over at Cadence.

"How's my friend, next to me. How does she look?"

The woman looked past Drew and over to Cadence in the passenger seat, she looked lifeless, a good majority of her face and upper body was covered in blood from the shattered glass hitting her skin. She looked beat up and bruised due to being tossed around in the car. Not to mention that her seatbelt hadn't been on. "She doesn't look good but I'm going to call 911 now and I'm sure she's going to be fine."

Drew looked over at Cadence and started to cry harder, "No, no, no, Cadence! Get up!"

"Calm down, it's going to be okay," said the woman. "You're pretty banged up too. I"m going to check on the other cars okay?"

"Okay," said Drew. "But please tell the paramedics when they get here, to take care of my friend first. I did this to her and she doesn't deserve this to happen to her."

The woman looked at him sympathetically, "I will."

Juliette and Avery arrived at her home and quickly rushed in. "I haven't seen Cadence all night," said Lance, following them in. "I would know if she came by but she didn't."

"Damn it," said Juliette as her and Avery stood in the foyer.

"Well like you said, she has to come back here at some point right?" Avery hoped. Juliette was relieved that Avery didn't try to prove her wrong, but actually supported her.

Juliette's phone then started to ring. She opened her clutch and took out her phone, she didn't recognize the number but it was a Nashville area code. Avery got closer to her, anxious to know if it was Cadence.

"Hello?" Juliette answered.

Avery watched Juliette's expression quickly change into a concerned one, noticing tears starting to form in her eyes. "Wait what?" she spoke into the phone.

"What is it?" Avery asked worriedly.

"I'll..I mean we'll be right there," she said before hanging up and looking up at Avery. "Cadence was in a car accident, sh-she's in the hospital."

* * *

 _ **POOR CADENCE! Next chapter you'll get to see what happens to her and Drew...I don't want to give too much away ;)**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews so far. It means a lot!**_


	8. This Is Going To Be Great, Just Great

**Well long time no see guys! A lot has happened since I last updated. A lot of personal stuff as well as finishing the semester and now working a lot more since it's summer. I'm not going to get too into it because you guys are here to read the new chapter haha!**

 **BUT YAY to Nashville being picked up by CMT after it being cancelled (boo you ABC). And it was announced that both Connie AND HAYDEN will be back so clearly Juliette didn't die in the finale (of course Javery got the shaft in the finale, not surprised tbh). I honestly can't wait for the new season and for Javery to work their shit out and be the adorable couple and family I know they can be!**

 **AND (last thing I promise), I saw the Nashville Cast on tour back in May in NYC and it was AMAZING! I even stayed after and met Chip and JONATHAN! He was so soft spoken and so freakin sweet and humble with every kind word everyone said to him. I can't. UGH. Oh and Chip is the best selfie taker, he literally takes your phone and makes sure there is good lighting HAHA. But yeah it was the best thing ever!**

 **I'm going to shut up now and let you guys read lol. This is basically a part one since the next chapter I have planned is going to be a direct continuation of this chapter. I hope you all like it!**

 _ **Again PLEASE REVIEW if you like what you read. Reviews are great motivation for me to write the next chapter and they are so appreciated.**_

* * *

Avery and Juliette sat in the Vanderbilt hospital emergency waiting room, distraught and concerned over Cadence. Glenn and Emily joined them soon after they had arrived to the hospital. It was around midnight and the only sounds heard throughout the waiting room were the tv and the shuffling and small chatter of the secretaries behind the desk.

Avery shifted his position in his chair so his elbow rested on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his fist. Him and Juliette had been growing impatient over the past hour and a half they were waiting to hear back about their daughter.

He stood up from the chair and walked up to the front desk. "Can I?" the lady started to ask before Avery interrupted her.

"I need to know when I can see my daughter, Cadence Barkley."

"Sir, just please sit back down. Her doctor will be out shortly."

"Okay well I don't know what this hospital's definition of shortly is because if it means waiting almost two hours…"

"For Cadence Barkley," said the doctor who just entered the room. He started to approach Juliette, Glenn, and Emily with an update on Cadence. Avery stepped away from the desk and joined them.

"Yes, I'm her father," said Avery.

"And um…I'm her mother," Juliette added.

"I'm Dr. Clement and I have an update on Cadence. I just want to let the two of you know the severity of her accident. The impact she had was quite severe, but she is recovering well."

Sighs of relief came from the four adults as the doctor told them the news. He looked over Cadence's chart once more so he could discuss details. "The only thing I am slightly concerned about is Cadence's head trauma from the accident. Now like I said, she is recovering so what I'm saying is not severe. But there is a slight possibility of some memory loss."

"Memory loss?" Avery asked.

"It's just a possibility after she wakes up, which can take a few days. Other than that, she has suffered a rib fracture in her right ribcage as well as her right arm which we took care of as well."

"Wait it's going to take a few days for her to wake up?" Juliette asked.

"I know you both are concerned about your daughter but she has suffered an accident that I have seen paralyzed people, sometimes even worse with the impact Cadence suffered in the accident. She is definitely a fighter."

"When can we see her?" Avery sighed in distress.

"You are both welcome to see her, just you two for now."

Juliette looked over at Glenn and Emily who were still concerned. "You two need to see her first," said Glenn.

"Please stay here, unless you both have to leave," Juliette asked.

"Of course," said Emily. "We're here for you and Cadence, both of you," she added, her eyes gazing over to Avery. She opened her arms and exchanged an embrace with Juliette. Glenn did the same when Juliette parted from Emily.

Avery watched the three of them, it was hard for him to feel anything for Juliette and he couldn't believe how they still could years later.

He waited until Juliette joined him in following the doctor to Cadence's room. She followed behind Avery, letting him be ahead of her. Dr. Clement then stopped at one of the rooms, "She's in here. Now she is still resting and she will wake up on her own time. Let me know if you two need anything. The nurses will be coming in to check on her every now and then."

"Thank you so much Doctor," said Avery, shaking the man's hand before entering the room.

"Thank you," Juliette added following behind her ex husband. She held the door open with her hand as she moved into the small hospital room. Both her and Avery paused at the sight of Cadence. Her face was scratched and bruised as well as her arms and partially her legs. Her right arm was casted and held in a sling. A clear tube hooked behind her ears and went to her nose for air.

Avery sniffed as he tried to hold back his tears, his eyes fixed on his daughter in her fragile state. Juliette remained nearest to the door, watching as Avery walked over to Cadence's bedside. He slightly bent forward and carefully lifted Cadence's hand and held held it in his own. Avery looked at the monitor with Cadence's heart rate where the beeping in the room was coming from, then looked over at Juliette.

"I think you should leave Juliette."

"Leave?"

Avery let out a breath, "You shouldn't be here, you haven't been there any of the other times she has been sick. There's no point in having you here now."

"That is the point Avery, _I am_ here now and _she is_ my daughter too."

"It's your fault she is here in the first place!"

"No it's your fault! If you didn't refuse for us meeting maybe she wouldn't have lied to you," said Juliette angrily, trying to keep her voice down. "I'm staying here and you can't keep me away from her anymore. You'll have to get someone to drag me out of here."

She then went to the side of the room and pulled one of the chairs over to the other side of where Cadence was. Avery watched her every move 'till she sat down, "I'm not leaving."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Juliette and Avery were still in the same positions they had been in since the night before. The two of them were trying to stay awake just in case Cadence would wake up so they would occasionally fall asleep.

"Juliette," Emily whispered as she entered the room. She noticed that Avery and Juliette were asleep and Cadence was no different since she left almost two hours ago.

"Juliette," she whispered again, slightly shaking Juliette's shoulder to wake her up.

Juliette quickly shot up, worried that it was something involving Cadence, "Ye-yeah?"

"It's just me," said Emily. "I brought back what you wanted." She handed Juliette a bag full of things like clothes and small toiletries for her since she hadn't changed or freshened up since the day before. There were a couple of things in another bag for Avery that Emily had stopped at Target for.

"Oh thanks Em," she said taking the bag from her and setting it on the floor.

"Still nothing?"

"No," said Juliette. "A nurse came in after you left to check on her and everything was fine."

"She's going to be fine Juliette, her body is recovering that's all."

Juliette nodded, she stood up and took the bag with her into the bathroom. "I need to talk to Glenn about the tour. I need to push it back."

"You're pushing back the tour?"

"Well we were supposed to have left Nashville five hours ago. Doesn't look like that is happening anytime soon does it?"

"I was just…I didn't think you would have wanted to postpone the tour."

Juliette entered the bathroom, turning around to face Emily who had followed behind. "You really thought I was going to go on with the tour? With Cadence like this? Do you really think I'm that heartless when it comes to my kid?"

"No Juliette that's not what I meant!" Emily defended herself after closing the bathroom door behind her, careful not to wake Avery. "Sure things have happened in the past that may have given me doubts. I just questioned it because I wanted to make sure that you were sure about this. But _now_ and the way I have seen you in the last week and how much you love that girl in there, no doubts entered my mind."

"I'm sorry Em, I just haven't really slept and when I have it was in a chair. I'm so stressed and worried and anything I do Avery has to say something about it," Juliette started saying, getting choked up.

Emily walked closer to her friend and opened her arms and pulled her in for a hug, "It's going to be okay Juliette. We just need to take everything a day at a time."

"Thank you," Juliette sniffed, trying her best to hold herself together. The two then pulled away from each other.

"I'll go talk to Glenn about the tour while you stay here and freshen up," said Emily, taking further charge of the situation. Juliette nodded and waited until Emily left to start changing.

Meanwhile outside of the bathroom, Avery started to wake up from his uncomfortable slumber. His sleepy eyes were quick to open looking over at Cadence to see if anything happened or changed. Avery stood up to look at her, hoping to see even the slightest change, hoping maybe she moved her head or if her eyes had opened, but nothing.

He heard water running in the bathroom and assumed it was Juliette. Avery sat back down in his chair and held his daughter's hand just like he had been the night before. He hated that he let go during his sleep. "Grandma, Aunt Savannah, and Molly are on their way to see you. Scarlett and Gunnar too with Noah and Harper. They're so worried about you sweetie," he said aloud in the quiet hospital room.

"Why did you do this Cadence," he said doubtingly. "Why didn't you just stay at the party?"

Before he could go on, the bathroom door opened and Juliette walked out in a more comfortable outfit with her hair pulled back. "Hey," she said softly. "Um, I had Emily run out and get you some things since you probably didn't bring much with you."

Avery swallowed hard, "Yeah I didn't, thanks."

Juliette sat down in the chair she had been sitting in, "No problem."

There was silence between the two for a moment until Juliette spoke up again, "So I'm pushing back my tour for a bit."

Avery took his eyes off of Cadence to look over at her, "For how long?"

"For as long as I need to until Cadence is better."

"Really?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Yes," said Juliette. "We have no idea right now what is going to happen after she wakes up and I know for certain I'm not on a plane right now at my first tour stop."

Avery decided to push aside his personal feelings about Juliette for the time being. She was with Cadence and had shown how much she is willing to dedicate herself and her time. Though it would take a while for him to fully trust her again, he was willing to do what he needed to do for Cadence. "Well as soon as Cadence has recovered we're heading back to Ohio. She still has school and I have to get back too."

Juliette nodded and understood, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing now?"

Avery sighed, "Running my own music store. I've had it for the past ten years now."

"That's really great," said Juliette. "And what about Molly? How long have you two known each other?"

Avery's face became puzzled as to how she knew about Molly and Juliette took notice. "Cadence told me," she added.

"We've known each other for a little over a year now. We're getting married in the fall."

"Congratulations," said Juliette, letting a small smile appear on her face.

"Thanks," he said, before looking back at Cadence. "I'm not fully convinced she's happy about it though."

"Yeah well, I don't mean to rat her out to you but she told me her and Molly aren't too close," said Juliette.

"I know, they aren't," said Avery. "I should have talked to her before I proposed."

Juliette adjusted herself in her seat, "She just wants you to be happy. That's all I wanted for the two of you…but clearly that's not the case."

Avery let out a breath, "She has wanted you her whole life Juliette. I cant even count the times when you could have handled a situation better than I could have. It's me who kept her from you."

"Avery, all week I kept thinking about how well you raised her. She is such a great kid and it was none of my doing. It was all you, so don't doubt yourself for doing what I couldn't do."

"Thanks," said Avery. "Savannah has helped a lot over the years but since turning sixteen, she could use you."

"You think?"

"She's becoming more like you as she gets older and I don't think I can handle that…or even Molly for that matter," Avery joked, both adults letting out a chuckle.

"Yeah you're right," said Juliette, the room falling silent again.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner that she was with me. I was being selfish and she didn't either but deep down I knew it wasn't fair," she added. "I'm sorry for a lot of things."

Avery nodded, accepting the apology, "Me too. Now that we're where we are, we need to compromise for her."

He swallowed hard, "I'm willing to do this if you are, for Cadence." From what he could tell from last night and on, there had been a change in Juliette. He was willing to give Juliette one last chance, something that was still hard for him to even do. Avery knew he had to start loosening the reigns a bit when it came to Cadence and Juliette because what he was doing before led him to his daughter's hospital room.

Juliette agreed, "Me too, for Cadence."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours had passed and nothing much had changed. Emily and Glenn had brought coffee for both Avery and Juliette and the nurse had come in a couple of times to check on Cadence.

There was a sudden buzz on Avery's phone, it was a text from his sister. "Molly, my sister, and my mom are here. I better go see them," said Avery.

The blonde nodded, "Go ahead, if anything happens I'll call you."

"I shouldn't be long," he assured her, keeping his eyes on Cadence until he had to open the door. He hated even leaving her for a second.

Juliette bit her inner lip, nervous to see Avery's family again after what had happened. She could only image the words Mrs. Barkley had to share with her, same with Savannah. Even though they had never met in person, both women knew of each other and Juliette knew how much she cared about Avery. Molly was a whole other storm, knowing she already had her own thoughts and opinions about her was something she didn't want to face either.

For the time being, Juliette had pulled out her phone and started going through her missed text messages and emails.

While on the bed, Cadence started to open her eyes slowly. A full view of the gray speckled ceiling had become clear. She could see out of the side of her eye the machines she was hooked up to and started to worry. Cadence started to think about what had happened that led her to being in the hospital.

 _The car accident_

 _Drew_

 _Paparazzi_

 _The party_

 _Dad and Mom_

 _How bad am I hurt?_

 _Am I paralyzed? Can I move? Oh god._

Cadence started to move her head to her right and saw Juliette sitting down, focused on her phone.

 _Juliette is here okay_

 _But where is Dad?_

 _Try moving, try speaking._

"He-he," said Cadence, not able to say a full word.

Juliette looked up with wide eyes. She stood up and approached her daughter quickly, placing her phone on the side table. "Cadence sweetie, you're okay. I'm here," Juliette cried, taking the sixteen year old's non-broken arm and holding her hand. Cadence holding onto her's just as tight.

"Wh-where's da-dad?"

"He just left for a moment," said Juliette as she picked up her phone with her free hand so she could call him.

Glenn had started to walk in when he saw what was going on, "Cadence oh my god!"

"Go get one of the nurses Glenn," Juliette ordered. Avery had been walking back to the room when he saw Glenn rush out in a hurry.

Avery went up to him urgently, "Glenn, what's going on?"

"Cadence is awake, Juliette told me to find a nurse."

Avery went right into the room to find Juliette by Cadence's side, "Cadence, Cadence, I'm here," he said as he rushed over to the side of the bed where Juliette was. "I'm right here baby," he said as Juliette stepped back and let him be closer to her. She still remained by Avery, not willing to move any further away.

"He-hey," she said with a smile forming. She wanted to say more but she was struggling.

"What happened?" Avery asked the older blonde.

"I just saw her moving her head and she started talking," said Juliette.

Avery sighed with relief as a nurse and Dr. Clement entered the room.

"Well look who decided to wake up for us," he said as he went over to the machines and observed them diligently.

"Everything looks good here," he said. "Cadence can you move all of your fingers for me and your toes as well."

She did as she was told, moving all of her fingers, even her arm that was in a cast, as well as all of her toes. "Perfect, now I know you're very sore but I'm going to help you sit up okay?"

She nodded as she accepted Dr. Clement's help. The nurse adjusted her pillows as Cadence moved. She winced slightly at her pain and soreness which Avery and Juliette were quick to take notice of.

"How was that?"

"It hu-hurt a bit," said Cadence, still struggling with her speech.

"Now her talking like the way she is, is that permanent?" Avery asked with concern.

"No, nothing was damaged to that part of the brain. It is most likely because of all the trauma. It's just going to take a few days for her to be talking normally, nothing permanent. Water and drinking fluids will help because her mouth is also dry, am I right?"

Cadence nodded, watching as the nurse went off to get her some water. She soon came back with a filled cup along with a separate pitcher if she wanted more later.

"I'm going to help you okay. I know your arm is still sore so just blink twice when you want me to stop," the nurse explained as she started to assist Cadence by tipping the cup back for her to drink. She eventually blinked twice and the nurse stopped.

"Great," said Dr. Clement. "That must be better."

"Yeah," said the teen much more easily.

The doctor smiled, "Well everything physically checks out great for the stage of recovery you are in right now. I just want to ask you some questions to see how your brain is recovering okay?" Cadence quickly tried to think back as much and as far as she could before he asked her anything. She didn't want there to be anything wrong when it comes to memory.

Avery and Juliette held their breath, this was what the doctor wasn't sure about.

"What is your birthday, if you can't remember all of it that is okay."

"April 8th, twenty fifteen," she said slowly, but still sure of herself.

"What state are we in right now?"

"Tennessee," she answered.

"Who are they?" he asked in reference to Avery and Juliette.

Cadence swallowed, "My dad and…my mom."

"Okay and last question, do you remember what happened before you woke up here?"

"Ye-yeah, um, I was in a car accident with my friend Drew. H-he was speeding and I ke-kept telling him to slow down. The paparazzi was chasing us. He was taking m-me back home."

Dr. Clement nodded and looked at Avery and Juliette, "No memory loss."

Both adults sighed with relief but still showed concern about Cadence retelling the accident. "Thank God," said Avery, letting out a sigh of relief, moving back closer to his daughter.

"Like I said before, she is a tough one. Not many patients would have made it out as well as she has," he said. "I'll give you guys some time before I come back to talk more about recovery."

"Thank you so much," said Juliette.

"Yes, thank you," Avery added before Dr. Clement left the room.

"See? Everything is fine," said Juliette, turning back to Cadence.

"We're so glad you're okay," said Avery, leaning down to press a soft kiss on her forehead.

Never would Cadence had thought she would witness such interaction between her parents. This was something completely new for her and while she wanted to be happy, she also started to remember all of the fighting and arguing at the party. All of the awful things she said to both of them.

Tears started to form in her eyes, both Avery and Juliette taking notice. "Cadence, what's wrong?" Avery asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Both of you guys, th-the party…I said awful things to you guys. I'm prob-probably the worst daughter in the world," she said as she cried, trying to say what she was feeling.

"Cadence…" Juliette started to say.

"I'm so sorry, I di-didn't mean it. I didn't mean a-any of it," Cadence started to cry harder. "I could have not even made it and m-my last words aren't wha-what it would have been to either of you. I fe-feel awful," she said as she continued to cry.

"Don't say that honey, you're here now," said Avery in an upset tone, thinking of how opposite the current situation would be. He was upset earlier with her words but not now. Avery knew his daughter well enough to know she didn't truly mean what she said. "I know you didn't mean it."

Avery and Juliette were on both sides of the bed, as close to Cadence as they possibly could. "I am the worst kid, I don't know why I did what I did. I don't act like this. It's all my fault," she said looking between the two of them.

"No it's not Cadence, you weren't the one driving that car," said Juliette.

"It was Drew who was reckless and I swear he is going to pay for what he did to you," Avery said angrily. Just thinking about what he did to hurt his baby girl made his blood boil.

"Dad it's not his fault!" Cadence said in a higher tone, quickly adjusting herself in her hospital bed but the pain on her side where she was still healing stopped her. A shooting pain went up the side and she winced in pain. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Okay you need to rest," Juliette said as she tensed up, worried about Cadence's apparent pain tolerance. She looked over at Avery who looked back at her, both of them angry at the boy who did this, as well as the paparazzi who chased them.

They both had Cadence lie down and relaxed, "You need to rest as much as you can," said Avery. "We'll talk about everything later."

Cadence was hurting and too uncomfortable to continue the discussion so she agreed and chose to rest. "Can the nurse give me anything for pain?" she asked, holding her right side with her left hand.

"Yeah we'll get her in here," said Juliette, slightly rubbing the top of her arm before stepping away towards the door.

"We'll be right back sweetie," said Avery, kissing the top of her head once more. He watched Cadence nod before stepping outside with Juliette, where they were met with Emily and Glenn.

"Nurse," said Avery, grabbing her attention. "My daughter is complaining of pain on her right side. She accidentally moved too quickly and she must have stressed it out too soon."

"I'll get her something right now," she said as she left her station across from Cadence's room.

Before they could even give an update to Emily and Glenn, a voice was heard from down the hall, "Avery!"

The four of them turned in the opposite direction where Avery's name was called. At the end of the hallway, Molly, Sandra, and Savannah were making their way as fast as they could to him.

Molly was the first to get to Avery, "Oh Avery," she said sympathetically, giving him a quick kiss on the lips, one that Juliette was sure to notice.

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Sandra asked with tears in her eyes, as she got closer to her son and hugged him tightly.

"She's okay Mom, she's doing fine," said Avery. "I'm so glad you guys are here."

"Of course we're here," said Savannah, taking her turn at exchanging an embrace with her brother. "Whoever did this to her is going to hear it from me directly."

As Savannah was speaking to Avery, Juliette caught eyes with Sandra. A pair of eyes she was afraid of meeting after sixteen years. A woman who had been on her side before. But by the anger in her eyes, Juliette knew that wasn't the case anymore.

She then looked at Molly, who had already been observing her with an already formed opinion. She was Avery's height, wearing a dress that showed her long tan legs. Her brown, wavy, hair was down and flowed down her back. Molly certainly wasn't the type Juliette ever thought Avery would be with. She was the complete opposite of herself from what she could tell.

"Can we go see her?" Savannah asked.

"We're letting her rest for a bit, she's in some pain right now," Juliette bravely explained to the three women.

"Why is she in pain?" Savannah asked again, only looking at Avery as if Juliette wasn't even there.

"She's recovering from a car accident Savannah, she's going to be in pain for a while," said Avery as the nurse walked past them with a medical bag with pain medicine for Cadence. "She moved too quickly in bed just now so she really needs to rest, that's all."

"This is probably going to be a while. I know you guys are out of town, so if you need somewhere to sleep or freshen up, the three of you are welcome to go to my house," Juliette offered kindly. Trying her best to make the situation as positive as possible.

"That's alright, we'll be here mostly. And if we need anything, we'll check into a hotel," said Sandra.

"We'll go wait in the waiting room until Cadence is ready," said Molly, looking at Avery who nodded.

"I'll let you guys know, okay?"

"Sounds good," said Sandra as she, Molly, and Savannah walked back down the hallway.

Juliette looked at Avery before they headed into Cadence's room and turned to Emily and Glenn, "This is going to be great, just great."


	9. Coming Clean

**Back again with another chapter! Again, always sorry for how slow it is for me to update. Life just gets in the way and blah, blah, blah...but hey the new season of Nashville is coming soon which makes me super excited!**

 **This is a continuation of the last chapter. I promise this will be the last "hospital" chapter because I really want to get into this story now and this chapter is really a kick off to the future chapters going forward. And I think the next chapter will be a slight time jump, and the chapter after that will be a major time jump so stay tuned!**

 **As always please review and favorite, it's always very encouraging. Thank you loves!**

 ****I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS****

* * *

"Looks like you won't be playing guitar for a while."

Cadence sighed, peering over to her right and looking at her broken arm in the hard blue cast. "No guitar, piano…my voice is still a mess so who knows when I'll be able to sing or do anything again. I can't even write. Unless I tried to use my left hand but that would be close to unreadable."

It was the next day and Cadence had been feeling better, not one hundred percent yet, but just enough for her to move slightly and grab things for herself and such. Avery, Molly, Savannah, and Sandra were all currently in the room with her.

"You'll be back to it soon enough kid," Savannah said with encouragement in her voice.

"Hopefully," said the blonde.

Avery felt horrible for his daughter. She was an artist who loved music in all aspects, just like himself and Juliette. Avery knew she would play her guitar in much of her free time and wrote songs whenever she could. If she was anything like Juliette, he knew she would be trying to get back to her normal routine as soon as she could. Avery could only imagine how hard it would be as she recovers.

"Resting and relaxing comes first," Avery insisted. "I know how much you want to get back to your normal self but it can't be rushed."

Cadence nodded, "I know."

Meanwhile, standing outside the room and looking in through the panel shaded window stood Juliette.

"Here you go," said Emily, handing her friend a cup of coffee. She had one for herself as well.

"I feel like I can't even go in there Em. I'm her mother and I'm not even welcome to be in there with her now."

"I know this sucks and while it's not fair to you, there's so much history in that room. They're a family and have been for sixteen years."

"With the exception of _her_ ," said Juliette before taking a sip of her coffee. Emily looked into the room again and focused on Molly.

"I never would have expected Avery to be with someone like her," Juliette added.

"Yeah," Emily pondered. "I wonder how they met. Did Cadence ever say anything to you?"

"Nothing, just that she isn't Molly's biggest fan if you know what I mean."

"Does Avery know?"

"I told him while we were waiting for Cadence to wake up. She's going to hate me for telling him."

"Well he should know how Cadence feels before he marries her."

Juliette shrugged her shoulders, "She wants him to be happy, and that's all I want for him too."

Emily took a sip of her coffee as well, "Avery might be happy but if Cadence isn't, is it really the kind of engagement that should be happening?"

Juliette sighed, "What am I supposed to do? Those women are like a pack of lions in there waiting to attack me if I make even the slightest move."

"If it's meant to be, then it will work out. If it's not mean to be, then it's not."

"Hey," said Glenn, interrupting the conversation.

"Hey," said Juliette, eagerly waiting for an update.

"After much debate from the promoters and the ticket companies, I was able to push back the tour. We just need to give them a heads up as soon as possible on when you would head out on the road again."

Juliette sighed with relief, "Did you apologize a million times on my behalf to everyone?"

"I did and a statement was released to your fans. They all understand but they keep asking questions on social media."

"Do they know it's about Cadence?"

"Some are suspecting it," said Glenn.

The blonde looked into the room again and fixed her eyes on her daughter. She knew what she needed to do. "I need to make a statement," said Juliette, looking back between her manager and assistant. "About everything."

"Are you sure about this Juliette?"

"It's something I should have done a long time ago."

Glenn and Emily looked at each other and back at Juliette again. "It's the right thing to do," Emily agreed. "You should definitely let Avery know first."

"I will," said Juliette, before looking at Glenn. "How fast can you get me an interview with GMA?"

"I'll give them a call," Glenn said with a comforting smile. He pulled out his phone and headed back down the hallway to make the call privately.

Juliette swallowed hard, nervous about the interview. She wanted to do it and it was the right time. Emily looked at her and could tell she had tensed up at the thought of talking about her postpartum and how she really hadn't seen Cadence in sixteen years. "It's going to be okay Juliette," she said in a comforting tone.

"Everyone is going to think that I'm a liar and a horrible mother," said Juliette. "Hell I might not even have to go on tour after this. But this is what I want, even if it means giving it all up."

"You're a better mother for doing this," said Emily. "She may be sixteen now, but she is going to see how brave and how strong you are for doing this. You'll be a better role model for her because of it."

Juliette sniffed back, trying to hold back her tears. She held her arms open for an embrace. Emily pulled her in, "Like I said, it will be okay."

"Thanks Emily," Juliette said before the two women separated. The blonde looked back into the room and saw the five of them still talking amongst themselves.

"I'm going to check on Glenn and see where he is with setting up the interview," said Emily.

"Thanks," Juliette responded before she stepped away. She kept her eyes focused on Cadence and watched as her daughter turned her face toward the window.

Cadence felt bad that Juliette was automatically excluded from being in the room, but she understood at the same time. While she wasn't recovered herself, she still wasn't recovered from all that happened the past week, especially the last few days. She was still waiting for Juliette to tell the truth, and in her mind, it was the only way for the two of them to begin any form of a mother-daughter relationship. Cadence wanted to talk to her, really talk to her, she was ready. But it was going to be hard while her family was with her as much as they could.

The sixteen year old simply showed a small smile and lifted her cast-less arm up just enough to give her a wave. Juliette did the same thing right back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that night, Juliette had went back to her place to pack for New York. The GMA interview was set up for the following morning and she had a flight leaving Nashville at nine thirty. But before she left, she wanted to tell Avery about the interview.

Juliette, Glenn, and Emily stopped back at the hospital before heading to the airport. She told Glenn and Emily to stay behind in the car so she could talk to Avery. After checking in at the main desk at the hospital, she headed up to Cadence's room. Juliette hoped she wouldn't run into Molly, Savannah, or Sandra while she was there. She was counting on the fact that it was late and the three of them had left temporarily for dinner.

The blonde made it to the room and looked in the window to see that it was just Avery in the room and Cadence was sleeping. He was sat down in a chair and his eyes were fixed up on the tv when she opened the door quietly and entered the room. Avery turned his head towards the door at the sound of it opening and watched as Juliette walked in.

"Hey," said Avery.

"Hey," Juliette said back, fixing her purse strap on her shoulder.

"You just missed her. She fell asleep about twenty minutes ago."

Juliette sighed, "Yeah I don't want to wake her."

Avery nodded, "My mom, Savannah, and Molly went back to their hotel to get something to eat and to sleep for the night."

"Oh okay, I'm glad they found a place."

"Yeah, it was nice of you to offer your place to them though."

"Just thought I'd try to be accommodating despite…you know."

"No, no, it was nice of you."

"Thanks," said Juliette. "So I can't stay long. I actually have a plane to catch to New York tonight."

"Wait seriously?" Avery asked in disbelief.

Juliette then explained herself further before Avery could jump to conclusions, "I have an interview with GMA tomorrow morning, Avery. I'm going to speak out about everything okay? My postpartum, Cadence, us…it's time for me to tell the truth."

Avery sighed but started to nod his head, "Figures that it takes Cadence to be in an accident for you to want to do this."

"It has taken me a while to get to the place where I'm at today, Avery. I'm ready to do this and it's not because I had some bullshit awakening after our daughter was in a car accident," Juliette said in a hushed but angered tone.

The two former lovers kept their distance in the room, Avery in the chair and her standing closest to the door. Avery sighed and wiped his hand over his face, "Cadence should know about this."

"She has wanted me to do this since she was on my doorstep over a week ago. Probably even longer before that. This is what she wants and this is what I want before we can have a relationship."

"Well what about afterward with all of the media and the aftermath of it all? Have you two considered that?"

"I just want her to be happy. I don't want her to look at me with disgust and shame anymore."

"She doesn't think of you like that," he said softly.

Juliette sniffed and tilted her head up to hold back her tears. She couldn't get deeper into the conversation so she changed the subject, "So are you okay with the interview? That's why I'm here, and say goodbye to Cadence."

Avery swallowed hard, "Yeah it's fine with me."

"Thank you," she said. "And please just text me or call with any updates. I know Dr. Clement said she's continuously improving but you know."

"Yeah I know, and I will don't worry."

"And text Emily and Glenn too just in case if I don't respond or anything like that. Just please let me know everything, when she's awake, when she's eating…"

"I will, I promise," said Avery with a small smile. He liked how concerned she was being.

Juliette nodded, she turned towards Cadence who had been fast asleep on the bed. She stepped closer to her daughter and leaned down to press a kiss on the top of her head. Parting away, she softly ran her finger through her wavy blonde hair. Juliette bit her lip and sighed, she knew she was doing the right thing. The older blonde looked up at Avery, knowing he had his eyes fixed on them the whole time.

"I'll be back by tomorrow afternoon and I'll be coming straight here as soon as I land," said Juliette. "Have her watch it okay?"

"I will," Avery said as he nodded. "Have a safe flight."

"Thanks," she said before making her way back to the door and leaving the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Cadence," Avery whispered as he carefully took his daughter's hand to wake her up.

Her eyes fluttered open and looked over to where her dad was, "Hey, did I sleep through the night?"

"Yeah you did," he smiled.

"What time is it?"

"It's almost eight," said Avery. "I have to show you something."

"Where's Juliette? Didn't she come back last night?"

"Yeah she did, but she had to leave again. It's part of what I have to show you."

Cadence carefully sat herself up in bed, she was confused as to what her dad was talking about. The blonde watched as he took the remote from the side table and turned the channel to Good Morning America. Emily had texted him she was coming on so he was sure to wake Cadence up just in time.

"And now in the nine o'clock hour we have Juliette Barnes here with us to talk about her new confession about fighting her postpartum depression, secret divorce, and her daughter. Good morning Juliette, welcome," said Lara Spencer who sat in a chair across from Juliette in the main studio with passersby in Times Square looking in the window, watching and waving their arms knowing they were on tv.

"Thank you, and thanks for having me," said Juliette, standing tall in the chair she sat in.

"Now all of this is new information for all of us and by 'all of us' I mean the public and even your fans. Why did you decide to keep this life changing information out of the public eye?"

"Most of it was due to the postpartum. It changes the way you think and how you act and at the time I thought I was doing the right thing. At the same time, not everything about my personal life has to be made known to the public. But I know it comes with the job."

"So during this time you and your ex husband got a divorce. Is the postpartum what led you two to separate?"

"Yes, I was reluctant of his efforts to seek help and treatment for my postpartum. I had become very focused on my career and I neglected what mattered most. I had also become a threat to my daughter. He knew what was best for her and he has always been nothing but an amazing father to her," Juliette said as her voice shook. "It wasn't until years later when I finally got the help and treatment that I needed."

Cadence took her eyes off the tv and looked over at her dad. His eyes started to fill but he held back. She reached for his hand that was resting on the edge of the bed and grasped it, Avery still not taking his eyes off the tv.

"I know this is a lot to talk about," Lara said in a comforting tone and Juliette nodded. "Do you and your husband still communicate?"

"I hadn't spoken to him since the divorce, until a few days ago when my daughter came to see me in Nashville. Before that I didn't see a point to reach out. So much damage had been done."

"Speaking of your daughter, Cadence, you hadn't seen or spoken to her until recently as well."

"Yes, it was my ex husband's decision to keep me out of the picture of Cadence's life. Almost two weeks ago she showed up at my doorstep at my home in Nashville was when I first saw her after sixteen years."

"Sixteen years?" Lara repeated. "That's a long time. Why are you speaking out now instead of say…five years ago?"

"I'm just tired of hiding something that has effected me so much. Having to hide all of this has taken a toll on everyone in my life and now was the time to come clean."

"Well right now, sources have reported that Cadence is currently in the hospital recovering over a terrible car accident with paparazzi."

Juliette nodded, "I'm not going to get into details but she is recovering very well and I'm actually heading back to see her right after this interview."

Lara and Juliette both smiled, "How is she otherwise? You must have gotten to know her while she was with you."

"Yes, she's your normal sixteen year old. She goes to school and she loves to sing and play guitar and piano."

"Well that's no surprise," Lara joked and Juliette let out a chuckle.

"Yeah she is something else. She's a beautiful, sweet, and a kind young woman and I have to thank her dad for that and all he has done."

Lara smiled, "So moving forward, what are your plans?"

"My focus right now is my daughter and my relationship with her. I need to regain assurance in my personal life before continuing with my career. For the time being I have postponed my tour to a later date and the fans have been super understanding which means a lot."

"Well I think they will continue to be," said Lara. "I think by you speaking out today shows how brave you are."

"Thank you," said Juliette.

"You're welcome and thank you for stopping by today. Everyone here at GMA wishes a speedy and well recovery for your daughter."

"Thank you so much," Juliette said again before Lara started speaking to the camera that they were going to a commercial break.

Cadence had tightened her grip on her dad's hand without realizing but then quickly loosened when he turned to her after the interview ended. "Are you okay Dad?"

"Yeah I'm good," said Avery. "I just never thought I'd be watching that."

"Me either," Cadence agreed. "So what happens now?"

Avery reached over and grabbed the laminated hospital menu, "Well right now you need to get something to eat and…"

"Dad you know what I mean."

"Well what do you want to happen?" Avery sighed. "I know you're not little anymore and I can't control everything. You do have a say in this as well."

"Really?"

"Within reason that I oversee the decision."

"Yeah that's what I thought," said Cadence.

"But really sweetheart," said Avery. "If you want a relationship with Juliette I will support it. I have always supported you and I always will. She's your mother and you have that right to know her. I'm just sorry that it didn't happen earlier."

"Dad, please don't be sorry about that. I understand why you did what you did, and Juliette does too. I think we all just had to let out our thoughts and emotions the other night. We all said stuff we didn't exactly mean. I'm ready to move forward if you are."

Avery nodded and smiled, "If you're ready then I'm ready."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That afternoon, Cadence was by herself in the hospital room. She convinced her dad to leave the hospital for at least an hour to grab something to eat and to get some fresh air. He hadn't left the hospital since Cadence was admitted. She was already visited by her grandmother, aunt, and soon-to-be step mother who said they were going to stop by again later. The blonde had been keeping busy on her laptop watching Netflix since there was nothing good on tv. With her headphones on, she wasn't able to hear the knock on the door. She kept her eyes focused on the screen until she saw Juliette enter out of the corner of her eye. Cadence quickly paused the episode of Gilmore Girls she was watching and took the headphones out with her free arm.

"Hey, you're awake," Juliette said with a smile.

"Yeah finally," said Cadence. "I can't believe I'm tired of sleeping."

"I could imagine," said Juliette as she stepped further into the room. She placed her bag on the counter by the sink that was in the room. "Where's your dad?"

"I got him to leave to get something to eat and to do something he either needed or wanted to do for at least an hour."

"Just an hour?"

"He wouldn't accept anything longer than that. He doesn't want to leave me alone for too long."

Juliette let out a soft chuckle, "I don't blame him though, I hated having to go to New York for not even twenty four hours, being away from you here at the hospital."

It became quiet between the mother and daughter. The tension started to grow, they knew they had to talk about the interview but neither of them knew where to start.

"Thank you for doing the interview," Cadence blurted out. "I knew it wasn't easy for you."

Juliette walked closer to Cadence and carefully sat beside her on the edge of the bed. "I did it for us," Juliette said simply. "And it wasn't because you had just gotten into a car accident or anything like that. I wanted to do it and I know you wanted it too."

"I know that, and I did. It meant a lot to me," said Cadence. "And I talked to Dad."

Juliette tilted her head sideways curiously, "About what?"

"Well if it's okay with you, I would like to stay with you for half of my summer, from mid July to the end of August. I don't know if you're going to be touring or not but even if you are I want to come with you."

"Cadence of course you can," Juliette said with assurance. "Is your dad okay with this?"

"One hundred percent, he's still going to talk to you about it but he is in full support of us having a relationship. It was my decision."

"Yeah well as soon as you're situated and you're healthy and healed again and back home I would probably head out on tour. But I could definitely arrange a break sometime when you're with me so we can do something else."

"That would be cool," Cadence smiled. "But seriously, I want to see you out on tour and what it's like to perform every night so don't feel bad about it. And even before all of that would it be okay if we called and FaceTimed?"

"Definitely," Juliette smiled again. "I would love that. I've already missed so much and I don't want to miss anything else."

"I've been thinking about that and really you haven't missed _that_ much. Like, yeah you missed my first steps, learning to ride a bike, and my first choir solo…" Cadence stopped when she noticed Juliette's upset face. "I'm not trying to rub this in, I promise I'm getting somewhere," she giggled and Juliette listened.

"But there's a lot that you didn't miss, which _I_ think are way more important. My first relationship, when I graduate from high school, when I get into college, my twenty first birthday, when I get married…"

Juliette's eyes started to well up with tears and Cadence started to feel bad, "I'm sorry Juliette, I didn't mean to make you upset."

"No sweetie, you're right. There's still a lot that I didn't miss. These are just happy tears," Juliette smiled as she quickly wiped her tears away.

"What's done is done, we can't undo it no matter how much we want to," said Cadence.

"You're absolutely right," Juliette agreed. "Geez, you sound like you aged ten years when I was gone."

Both blondes laughed as Juliette adjusted herself on the bed, "So what did I interrupt you from watching?"

"Oh nothing really, I just started the show Gilmore Girls since nothing else was on tv. I had always wanted to watch it."

Cadence could tell by Juliette's face that she seemed interested, "What is it about?"

"I'm only on the second episode but it's about a mother and daughter living in Connecticut and they're best friends. Lorelai had her daughter Rory when she was sixteen. They talk super fast and make a bunch of references to music, books, and movies. It's really good so far."

"That does sound good, can I watch it with you?" Juliette asked.

Cadence smiled at Juliette's willingness and was quick to answer, "Yeah, I'll just move over."

"Are you sure?" Juliette asked, not wanting Cadence to move too much.

"I'm sure," Cadence chuckled as she slowly moved herself over towards the right to make room for Juliette. "You'd be surprised how much sleep can help a body."

The older blonde carefully climbed up on the bed and sat beside her daughter. Cadence took her headphones out of her laptop so Juliette could hear. "I'll go back to the first episode," said the sixteen year old.

"I don't want to make you go back and re watch the first episode," said Juliette, feeling bad.

"Well you're going to be confused if we don't," Cadence argued playfully. "Plus I really like this show anyways so it's okay."

"Alright," said Juliette, giving her daughter a side eye glance.

Cadence noticed and gave one right back along with a smile, "Ready?"

Juliette gave Cadence's arm a light squeeze, "Yeah I'm ready."


End file.
